Quotable

"It (the Grand Canal) is not a piecemeal approach, but a massive project. More importantly, the canal's not a temple or a mountain. It's a complicated system involving many land resources, cultural relics, water conservancy projects and environmental concerns. In terms of time and space, its protection is an unprecedented challenge in the history of the World Heritage program. We have no model to follow anywhere in the world."

Qi Xin, deputy secretary-general of the Grand Canal subcommittee under the China Association of Cultural Relics Preservation, explaining the extensive preservation of the Grand Canal, also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, after the waterway was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on Sunday.