I may have seen glimpses of the Grand Canal before in Beijing, Suzhou and Hangzhou, but I had never visited it consciously and thus hadn’t counted it so far. Remarkably, the Chinese have pulled off an inscription in one go (a “perfect inscription”) for such a vast serial site.

In this review, I will focus on the Hangzhou sites of interest within the Jiaxing-Hangzhou section. Most of those lie some 5km north of that other Hangzhou WHS, West Lake. Only the Fengshan Water Gate, which I did not visit, is close to the city center. The main remains lie close to Gongchen Bridge. You can reach it via the blue metro line and get off at the station aptly named ‘Grand Canal’. Hangzhou’s metro network was extended significantly in 2022 but this is not shown often in English language online resources.

Things to see in this area:

• Qiaoxi Conservation Area: this was the former merchant district, which has retained (or was it rebuilt?) its traditional streets, lanes and wooden buildings. It looks quite pretty but it is also very touristy, with ‘attractions’ such as an umbrella museum.
• Gongchen Bridge (pictured): this is a fine stone arch bridge over the Grand Canal, and the most historic bridge still standing in this section.
• Grand Canal Museum: a large hall at the ‘other’ end of the Gongchen Bridge. It does tell about what the Grand Canal meant for Hangzhou: it caused it to grow into a prosperous, commercial city. The museum has only a few explanations in English and few objects of note.
• Hangzhou Fuyi Granary (indicated as ‘Fuyicang Relics Park’ on maps): at this well-preserved warehouse from 1880 mostly rice (not grain) was stored that was transported along the canal. The large riverside building consists of 3 courtyards and 3 rows of barns. The dock is also still present. You can wander around freely, some spaces are rented out to cultural organizations and artists.

These four sights will give you a general feel about the former importance of the Grand Canal in this region. You’ll also walk along the riverside for a bit when you move around from sight to sight, which is probably the best part of the visit overall. There was little traffic on the river when I was there on a Wednesday afternoon.

Another way to see this stretch of the Canal is to hop on one of the river ferries which navigate this section in about 30 minutes. Night cruises are also offered.