Wuxi： Awakening the Grand Canal and Realizing Ecological and Cultural Prosperity.

　　Qingming Bridge Ancient Canal Historical Block, Canal Bund Leisure Block, Bodu River Cultural Park … … Among the newly released iconic cultural tourism products of "Hundred Scenes of the Canal", Wuxi was selected with 12 scenes, which is the largest number among the eight cities along the Grand Canal in the province. Along the canal, the scenery is good all the way.

　　Over the years, Wuxi people have clearly realized that protecting and developing ecological and cultural landscapes along the route and inheriting and utilizing historical and cultural heritage resources are the only way to promote the innovative development of canal culture. At the site report meeting of Liangxi River and Grand Canal held on August 14th this year, Wuxi officially promoted the renovation of Liangxi River and Wuxi section of the Grand Canal as the "No.1 Project" of Wuxi’s "Beautiful Rivers and Lakes" action, and clearly established the ecological "base" for the construction of the Grand Canal cultural belt through comprehensive water system management, ecological protection and restoration, and environmental construction along the river.

　　Scientific planning to promote the upgrading and transformation from "geographical space" to "urban comprehensive space"

　　"The construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt is a systematic project, building a sound governance system, stimulating and improving governance capabilities, and achieving overall development on the basis of scientific planning." Xie Guangqian, an expert on canal culture research, said that the Grand Canal cultural belt should be taken as the axis to build an interconnected ecological circle, living circle, cultural circle and economic circle, and realize the transformation from "geographical space" to "urban comprehensive space".

　　Protect the canal and plan first. Wuxi, as an important symbolic city in the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, has carefully cared for the memory of the Canal in recent years through the promotion of planning, ecology and culture. In combination with the Tenth Five-Year Plan, Wuxi has issued the Implementation Plan for the Cultural Protection, Inheritance and Utilization of the Grand Canal in Wuxi, and combined with the revision of the land and space planning, it has improved the Heritage Protection Plan of the Grand Canal (Wuxi Section) (2010-2030) and the Urban Design along the Scenic Belt of the Ancient Canal in Wuxi. With all kinds of related plans of Wuxi section of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt coming out one after another, the ideas and realization paths of Wuxi in building cultural belt, ecological belt and tourist belt are gradually clear.

　　Water fluctuates and culture prospers. Since ancient times, canals have been closely linked with urban development. "In dealing with the relationship between historical and cultural heritage protection and urban modernization, we should reflect." When reviewing the development of the Grand Canal in Wuxi, Fu Yaonan, a scholar of Wuxi literature and history, said that how to present the individual symbols of the Wuxi section of the Canal and how to reproduce the dock culture representing the Canal need to be considered as a whole in the new round of the construction of the Grand Canal cultural belt.

　　Some suggestions and opinions of experts are expected to be adopted and integrated into the planning. On August 12, Wuxi held a plenary meeting of the leading group for the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt, which put forward a higher standard for the construction of the Wuxi section of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt — — Using strategic thinking and systematic thinking, we should combine the construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt with the implementation of the new development concept, the construction of a new development pattern and the promotion of high-quality development, and make high-level planning and high-standard promotion in the overall situation.

　　Subsequently, the plates along the canal, such as Liangxi District, Huishan District and Xinwu District, were "key points" for the planning and protection of the Grand Canal cultural belt within their jurisdiction: Huishan District, around Huishan section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, carried out the environmental improvement of important nodes such as Xixi Bridge and Luoshe Bridge according to the requirement of 10 meters of river management scope line, and accelerated the construction of Jiangnan Canal theme park; Liangxi District reviewed and approved the Key Points of the Construction of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt and National Cultural Park in Liangxi District in 2021, which will further integrate resources and close them into a ring, speed up the connection between the Grand Canal and the ancient canal, and realize the complementary functions of the "two rivers"; Xinwu District invited Wu Zhiqiang, an academician of China Academy of Engineering, to participate in on-the-spot investigation and planning to explore the theoretical basis of planning.

　　Green development, creating a beautiful canal home with clear water and green shore.

　　"The canal is long, full of green, egrets are flying or resting by the river." Such a canal scene is the expectation of residents and tourists. However, the problems of water environmental pollution such as industrial sewage, agricultural sewage, domestic sewage and shipping dangerous goods pollution along the Grand Canal still exist. Along the Wuxi Canal, there are many hard revetments, and the self-purification ability of water quality is limited, and the function of filtering, purifying and protecting biodiversity in the coastal buffer zone is weak.

　　To this end, Wuxi City regards the renovation of the Liangxi River and the Wuxi section of the Grand Canal as the "No.1 Project" of this year’s "Beautiful Rivers and Lakes" action.

　　"Only when the connection between the canal water body and the Yangtze River, Taihu Lake and urban rivers is strengthened and the water quality is improved as a whole, can we build a new pattern of green development of Wuxi river and lake network." The Implementation Plan for the Cultural Protection, Inheritance and Utilization of the Grand Canal in Wuxi City mentions that by 2025, the ecological protection pattern of the Wuxi section of the Grand Canal will be fully formed, and the green landscape with clear waters and banks along the line will take shape initially. Wuxi will build a green and livable canal city and a green canal park with clear waters and banks.

　　In the view of Wan Jiannong, director of Liangxi District Water Conservancy Bureau, to build a "beautiful canal home with intensive and efficient production space, green and livable living space and green ecological space", it is necessary to improve the water quality, improve the environment along the line and break the water system. He introduced that Liangxi is comprehensively renovating 22 canals in its jurisdiction according to Class III water quality standards. According to the "one river and one policy", the governance objectives are clearly defined, and more innovative means and the "black technology" of comprehensive governance will be used in these branches. In Lucun River, a branch of the Grand Canal, we saw the pilot project of introducing new water treatment technology, and two large-scale high-efficiency ion clarification experimental equipment appeared on the river bank. "The river water has been purified to improve the transparency and oxygen content of the whole river." The staff introduced that through the comprehensive purification of the water quality in the branch, a healthier system environment was created for the water quality of the canal.

　　"I am most looking forward to more fitness runways along the canal." Xiao Zhu, an urban fun run enthusiast, spoke out the voices of everyone. Combining the creation of cultural landscape with ecological management is the focus of the construction of ecological green corridor in Wuxi section of the Grand Canal. A number of riverside natural water ecosystem wetland parks will appear: Beijian Park, which is being planned and constructed in Liangxi District, will be a leisure space surrounded by water, with green plants everywhere and complete trails and landscapes. Huishan District invited Tongji University, Zhongtian Design and relevant departments to speed up the preparation of the plan and realize the three links of "walking lane, cycling lane and running lane" along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.

　　Cultural guidance, creating a new business card of canal culture with creativity

　　From Qingming Bridge Ancient Canal Historical Block to Huishan Ancient Town Canal Leisure Morning Tea, from Liang Hong National Wetland Park to Yixing Baita Village … … From these freshly baked "Hundred Scenes of the Canal", it is not difficult to find that Wuxi is integrating the bustling scenes of the markets along the Grand Canal and the living customs of the citizens on the basis of the world cultural heritage of the Grand Canal, and creating a unique cultural tourism boutique with the label of "Canal".

　　The Grand Canal in the new era has become an important spatial axis of Wuxi’s urban development. In order to build a cultural belt that inherits the past and promotes the present, Wuxi has laid out "two parks, three belts and fifteen points" to show the unique elegance of the canal in an all-round and three-dimensional way. "We must profoundly grasp the historical value and spatial texture of the cultural heritage of the Wuxi section of the Grand Canal, fully tap the cultural connotations of Wu culture, Jiangnan culture, industrial and commercial culture along the Grand Canal, and make the Grand Canal culture a remarkable cultural symbol of Wuxi." Tang Keke, an expert in literature and history, said. "Wuxi is an innovative city. Only by doing a good job of integration can we realize the personality and characteristics of the construction of Wuxi Canal Cultural Belt." According to Wang Jian, a canal expert of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt Construction Research Institute, there are cultural heritages such as historical and cultural buildings, ancient sites and celebrities’ former residences on both sides of the Wuxi section of the Grand Canal. It is a project that needs to be continuously promoted to sort out and excavate the culture.

　　It is understood that with the Grand Canal National Cultural Park as the link, Wuxi will carry out the revision of the master plan for the protection of large sites, adhere to the combination of the protection of large sites with the construction of site parks and museums, and build a model for the protection and utilization of large sites based on the construction of Hongshan National Archaeological Site Park and He Lv National Archaeological Site Park. At the same time, the exhibition mode of "internet plus Grand Canal Heritage" will be innovated, and the Grand Canal Comprehensive Museum Group and the non-genetic inheritor training base along the Grand Canal will be combined with the scenic spots along the route to polish the "Canal Card" for the integration of literature and tourism.

　　In the opinion of experts, Wuxi can also make overall use of the Wuxi Grand Canal Cultural Tourism Development Fund and other special funds, try first, promote the implementation of a number of Grand Canal cultural protection and inheritance projects, and accelerate the construction and development of the Grand Canal cultural belt.