10 recent Chinese additions to the World Heritage List

Take an aerial view of the Grand Canal in Zaozhuang in East China's Shandong province. [Photo/IC]

6. The Grand Canal

The Grand Canal is a vast waterway system in the north-eastern and central-eastern plains of China, connecting Beijing in the north and Hangzou in  Zhejiang province in the south.

As the world’s largest and most extensive civil engineering project prior to the Industrial Revolution, it formed the backbone of the Empire’s inland communication system, transporting grain and strategic raw materials, and supplying rice to feed the population.

It has played an important role in ensuring the country’s economic prosperity and stability and is still in use today as a major means of communication.

It was added into the list on June 22, 2014.