The Beauty of Intangible Cultural Heritage: Artisans by the Grand Canal

[Synopsis]

This book offers a systematic study, from a broad perspective, of the protection, inheritance, and use of the Jiangsu section of the Grand Canal Cultural Belt over the 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. From a more focused perspective, it vividly presents the collective memories of those who have experienced the Grand Canal's cultural development firsthand. It examines the history of cities along the canal while also considering the realities of local people's work and daily lives. It addresses both the protection and inheritance of Grand Canal culture and its development and use. A panorama of the Grand Canal in our time, rich with elements of nation and family, history and the present, humanity and nature, slowly unfolds. The breadth and depth of this series owe much to the wide-ranging research perspectives of the many scholars at Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, especially the dozens of outstanding young scholars among them. Born and raised here, they are truly children of the Grand Canal, with a heartfelt emotional bond and an innate cultural affinity for it. Taking a close-up, personal perspective, they vividly reveal how ordinary people remember, understand, and identify with Grand Canal culture. Through these details, they show the canal's tremendous changes over time, while also revealing the precious humanistic spirit and strong cultural confidence of young scholars in the new era.