The Millennium Grand Canal carries the spirit of continuous self-improvement and the wisdom of harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature. As new progress is made in the excavation and protection of the site, the spiritual connotation of the Grand Canal will be more fully realized.

The report of the 20th CPC National Congress proposes "building and utilizing national cultural parks". In recent years, as the construction of national cultural parks continues to make new progress, a number of related attractions have become popular tourist destinations, including the Grand Canal National Cultural Park. From Beijing to Hangzhou, from water conservancy facilities to riverside villages, people marveled at the magnificent and magical canal landscape and felt the deep Chinese cultural connotation. As a worker for the protection of the Grand Canal's heritage, telling the story of the canal and its backstory has been my focus in recent years.

The Grand Canal has rich cultural connotations, is the crystallization of the wisdom of the working people, and is also an important part of the excellent traditional Chinese culture. However, due to the long period of time and the large differences in the actual situation of each section of the canal, it is not easy to show its cultural essence and pass it on. We need to do a good job of landscape design on the basis of heritage protection, through the rational development of cultural and tourism resources to highlight the cultural connotation. Only by doing our homework in all aspects can the story of the Grand Canal truly and vividly enter the hearts of tourists. Taking the Zhejiang section as an example, we have dug deep into the cultural connotation of the canal on the basis of systematic and complete protection, reasonably designed the park landscape, and improved the cultural and tourism service system, so that tourists can fully feel the long cultural lineage and contemporary vitality of the canal culture.

Conservation is a prerequisite for resource development and utilization. In terms of landscape design, in order to protect the heritage itself and make the park landscape coherent, we categorize the landscapes on both sides of the river and make detailed design planning. For the ecological landscape such as rural rice paddy agriculture, especially the landscape between villages and the Grand Canal, we made the restoration and remediation programs; in the city, ecological green space was planned as the landscape environment of the park, and the height of the surrounding buildings was reasonably controlled. In this way, the real historical scenes of the Grand Canal can be restored, and a credible and palpable entity is provided to tell the story of the Canal. Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province, invited a professional team to do a good job of planning in the pre-construction of the park, and strengthened the protection and management of humanistic heritage space along the route. The local community builds humanistic landscapes according to the cultural traditions and folk customs of cultural relics protection units, historical and cultural districts, and famous towns and villages along the route to pass on cultural memories. Nanwang Junction Archaeological Site Park in Jining, Shandong Province, while restoring the northern embankment of the Canal and other sites, also building the new science and technology museum and other supporting facilities, focusing on the harmony and unity of the old and new architectural styles, enriching the park's landscape type. Visitors can not only glance at the original appearance of cultural relics, but also witness the former canal landscape through modern technology.

To make good use of the National Cultural Park, it is necessary to utilize its contemporary value as a cultural heritage. The rise and fall of the Grand Canal is inextricably linked to the development of towns and villages along the route. Many towns and villages have a long history and are highly recognized, and some are also part of the heritage of the Grand Canal settlements. During the construction of the park, the humanistic connotations of the heritage of these settlements can be fully explored, new cultural and tourism facilities can be constructed, and cultural activities can be organized to tell the moving stories of the development and changes of the Grand Canal. "There are as many people holding up the poles as raindrops, and the masts of the ships are closely piled up." The poet Fan Chengda depicted the scene of many boats and locks in Chang'an of the Grand Canal during the Southern Song Dynasty. The town of Chang'an in Jiaxing City, which was developed because of the canal, is not big, but it has a lot of historical districts and was once called "Ten Miles of Chang'an" in history. Now, the local is reproducing the appearance of the ancient town for the original intention, while protecting and refurbishing canal town culture, also organizing "Canal - Changan" Cultural Tourism Art Festival, tasting the New Year's custom, holding dragon boat races, enjoying the lanterns, celebrating the harvest and other series of traditional cultural activities back to the stage, enriching the cultural life of the local people, but also attracting a lot of foreign tourists. The ancient canal has become a cultural symbol of Chang'an Ancient Town and an important support for promoting local cultural development. Through the revitalization and utilization of cultural resources, the Grand Canal National Cultural Park is realizing the promotion of protection through utilization and driving the transformation and upgrading of the local cultural tourism industry.

It is through creative conservation and utilization that the spiritual connotation of the Grand Canal can be perceived and carried forward. The thousand-year-old Grand Canal carries the spirit of self-improvement and the wisdom of harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature. The Huai'an Duanqingkou Water Conservancy Hub is located at the intersection of the Grand Canal, the Yellow River and the Huaihe River. After years of excavation by archaeologists, this huge and complex water conservancy project has been brought back to light, showing the scientific wisdom of the ancients in clearing the sediment by using water attack force when managing the Yellow River, and embodying the spirit of the builders in their arduous struggles. In Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, the Grand Canal is inextricably linked with the water conservancy cultural heritage on both sides of the river - Tangpu dike field, where the ancients used the river and lake wetland as a good field for three-dimensional planting and rearing of rice and fish, which was the early prototype of ecological agriculture. With the coexistence of water transport heritage and agricultural heritage, the natural scenery and humanistic history, visitors can experience the explorations of the predecessors in agriculture and ecological construction in an immersive way and realize the creative spirit of the Chinese nation. It is believed that with the accelerated construction of the park, the spiritual connotation of the Grand Canal will be more fully explored and displayed.

Whether it is the Long March, a great feat in human history, the Grand Canal connecting the north and the south, the Great Wall, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, which gave birth to the Chinese civilization, all of them reflect the far-reaching significance of the construction of the national cultural park. It is expected that the national cultural park, as a cultural logo, will further highlight the vitality, influence and appeal of Chinese culture.