Important cultural relics, ancient tombs and sites which are under national D class protection along the central and eastern routes of China's south-to-north water diversion project, are to be protected, according to report from Ministry of Water Resources.

The south-to-north water diversion project, which passes through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal running seven provinces and municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shandong and Jiangsu, will affect a large number of precious cultural relics as they pass through the Canal.

Protection of cultural relics along the Canal is of great importance not only for the water diversion project but also for the application of world heritage for the Canal.

As a key north-to-south water channel in China, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the longest artificial river in the world.

Completed in 1291, the Grand Canal starts from Tongzhou District of Beijing in the north and runs 1,794 kilometers southward to Hangzhou of east China's Zhejiang Province.

By People's Daily Online