The 2021 Grand Canal Intangible Cultural Heritage Tourism Conference is held in Wuxi, Jiangsu province from Oct 22 to 24. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Wuxi will promote the Grand Canal renovation and upgrading project and strengthen the protection and utilization of local intangible cultural heritage items to make intangible cultural heritage tourism an important carrier of Wuxi cultural tourism, said Li Qiufeng, director of the Wuxi publicity department.

Li made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the 2021 Grand Canal Intangible Cultural Heritage Tourism Conference on Oct 23.

To display the cultural heritage of the canal, bring new vitality to the ICH industry and accelerate the recovery of culture and tourism market, Wuxi has been ramping up efforts to protect, inherit and utilize the excellent traditional cultural resources along the ancient waterway in recent years.

The intangible cultural heritage fair is crowded with visitors in Wuxi Qingming Bridge Historical and Cultural Block. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At present, Wuxi has 195 representative intangible cultural heritage projects above the municipal level, including 11 at the national level and 51 at the provincial level. There are 285 representative inheritors at or above the municipal level, including 10 at national level and 56 at provincial level. The city is home to 34 intangible cultural heritage protection bases at various levels.

To promote the Grand Canal, Wuxi has released various municipal plans regarding cultural, ecological, and tourism development.

Wuxi is a famous cultural city with a history of more than 3,000 years, an important birthplace of Wu culture and the birthplace of modern Chinese national industrial and commercial culture. The city boasts Jiangsu province's most iconic cultural tourism products along the Grand Canal, with 40.6 kilometers of the historic waterway that links Hangzhou, Zhejiang province with Beijing passing through it.