Heritage Characteristic and Value of the Grand Canal in China: under the Background of Application for World Heritage

China Grand Canal applying for world cultural heritage has reached a critical stage. From the angle of the Canal Science, problems such as heritage category, heritage characteristic and value, heritage property are still further studied. Based on the reference of the experience of abroad heritage canal s application for world heritage from World Heritage List, the paper has reached the following 3 conclusions. Firstly, definition of canal heritage should be defined from water resources engineering system, with intangible cultural heritage only as reference. Secondly, heritage characteristic and value of China Grand Canal features engineering, cultural routes, combination of heritage canal and cultural routes. Thirdly, the likeliest type of China Grand Canal applying for world cultural heritage is "heritage canal", then mixed heritage of "heritage canal and cultural routes".