Canal Scenic Belt

Canal Scenic Belt

Transportation in Siyang is convenient, featuring the renowned golden waterway—the 32-kilometer section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is the longest ancient canal in the world. It stretches from Yuhang (present-day Hangzhou) in the south to Zhuojun (present-day Beijing) in the north, passing through Tianjin, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and connecting the Hai River, the Yellow River, the Huai River, the Yangtze River, and the Qiantang River—five major water systems—spanning a total length of 1,797 kilometers. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has played a significant role in promoting economic and cultural development and exchange between China’s northern and southern regions, especially in advancing industrial and agricultural growth as well as the rise of towns along its route.

The millennium-old Grand Canal has nurtured countless descendants of the Chinese nation. Comrade Sun Jiazheng, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, also holds deep affection for the canal. He once wrote emotionally: “If not my birth mother, then surely my nursing mother,” expressing his gratitude for the canal that quenched his thirst, his admiration for its inclusive and open spirit, and his appreciation for its unceasing innovative drive.

For the people of Siyang, the Canal Scenic Belt is the best place for leisure and entertainment, serving as everyone’s backyard garden.

The first phase of the Canal Scenic Belt is 2.6 kilometers long, covering an area of 302,000 square meters. Centered on the theme of “a cultural and green capital, a vibrant water city,” the project makes full use of the ancient canal’s riverside wastelands and barren areas to establish a harmonious, continuous waterfront interface. It forms a linear scenic belt along the canal and serves as a core urban landscape area characterized by harmony, flexibility, greenery, culture, and visual impact. It integrates sightseeing, recreation, sports and fitness, leisure and entertainment, as well as experience and interaction into a waterfront landscape zone. This natural oxygen bar in Siyang boasts high levels of negative oxygen ions, with pleasant temperature and humidity. Visiting here allows people to escape the hustle and bustle of city life and the stress of work, offering a full experience of low-carbon ecology.

The second phase of the Canal Scenic Belt was designed by the Provincial Urban Planning and Design Research Institute, with a total investment of 200 million yuan. Spanning approximately 1.8 kilometers, it is another major landscape project on the north bank of the canal following the completion and opening of the first phase. Once completed, it will join forces with the majestic Canal Bridge, the wide and smooth Riverside Avenue, and the classic Chinese-style “Canal Impression” complex of white-walled, black-tiled buildings to form a series of delightful urban landscapes along the north bank of the canal.

The Canal Scenic Belt includes nodes such as the Canal Square, the Shallow Water Rock-Playing Area, the Wind Sculpture, the Dock Relics, the Eco Wooden Boardwalk, and the Sunny Grass Slope. Strolling here not only allows you to get close to the canal, feel the breeze on your face, and listen to the water lapping against the shore, but also lets you find an open green space to sit, lie down, or relax; play chess, read, or chat, enjoying a joyful holiday. The clear waters cleanse the fatigue from body and mind, leaving you feeling refreshed and at ease.

Standing on the Canal Scenic Belt and looking westward, a massive red cable-stayed bridge comes into view. The Siyang Bridge is the first red, A-shaped, inclined-tower cable-stayed bridge on the Thousand-Mile Canal, and also the first red cable-stayed bridge in China. It is 666 meters long, 26 meters wide, with a main tower standing 84 meters high. The main bridge adopts a 90+135-meter single-tower, double-cable-plane cable-stayed design, built to the standards of a first-class highway bridge. Today, the Siyang Bridge not only connects both sides of the canal but has also become one of Siyang’s iconic landmarks. When night falls and the lights illuminate the bridge, it shines brilliantly alongside the Canal Scenic Belt, standing out strikingly across the city. Taking a nighttime stroll across the Siyang Bridge and overlooking the entire city not only reveals the tremendous changes in Siyang but also brings joy in witnessing the city’s elevated taste and charm.