China worries about how to protect Grand Canal

BEIJING, Mar 11 (Reuters) An imperial canal which was a lifeline for ancient China and is still an important economic artery is suffering from pollution and decay and not enough effort is being made to protect it, officials said today.

The Grand Canal was completed in 608 A D during the reign of Sui Emperor Yangdi to connect the fertile rice paddies south of the Yangtze with the capital 1,800 km to the north.

But the northern section starting, from Jining in Shandong province, is no longer functioning. In other sections historic old buildings connected with the canal are falling into decay, said Shan Jixiang, head of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage.

''The protection of the Grand Canal's cultural heritage did not receive adequate attention for a long period of time,'' Shan told a news conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of parliament.

''Only with the onset of the 21st century did people start paying it more and more attention,'' he added.

In some areas the old canal is being used as a garbage dump, said Shan, showing pictures taken during a recent government inspection.

Protecting the canal is that much harder as it runs through several provinces and so falls under the auspices of different government offices, he said.

All this was hampering efforts to get the canal listed as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, the official added.

''We need to raise people's awareness of the importance of protecting the Grand Canal,'' Shan said.

The parts of the canal which still function -- running mainly through the booming coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu -- are still heaving with traffic today, with barges carrying mainly raw materials like coal to feed China's soaring economy.

The canal carries three times as much freight annually as the Beijing to Shanghai railway, according to Liu Feng, who sits on a government academic advisory body.

''The Grand Canal has had a glorious history. It played an important role in China's politics, economy, culture, military affairs and national unification,'' Liu said.

REUTERS SP BST1644