Grand Canal lives on in Tai'erzhuang

Flow of history still evident in time-honored trade stop, Wang Qian reports.

The ancient water town of Tai'erzhuang alongside the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is an alluring tourism destination, a rare site where the original beauty and cultural legacies of the world's oldest manmade waterway remain alive today.

The 1,794-kilometer-long Grand Canal, nine times longer than the Suez Canal, linked northern and southern China and served as a lifeline for dynasties for 14 centuries. It joined the list of World Cultural Heritage sites on June 22.