Gongchen Bridge of the Grand Canal

Yunhe Square is located on the west bank of Gongchen Bridge in Gongshu District, at the southern terminus of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It is an open urban square that showcases Hangzhou's canal culture most comprehensively. The square is paved with bluestone slabs and antique-style floor tiles, with a large sailing ship sculpture standing at its center, symbolizing the millennial canal shipping culture. The east side of the square is adjacent to Gongchen Bridge, with waterfront steps and antique-style street lamps along the bank, making it a popular spot for citizens to take evening strolls, square dancing, and enjoying the canal night view. During holidays, the square hosts canal culture markets, intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, and light shows, bustling with activity. The surrounding area is equipped with tea culture houses, canal-themed restaurants, and cultural creative shops, where visitors can rest and enjoy tea while experiencing Hangzhou's historical heritage of "prospering because of the canal." This is also one of the main boarding and disembarkation points for canal cruise boats on the Hangzhou section of the Grand Canal.

Gongchen Bridge was first built in 1631 during the Ming Dynasty and stands as the southern terminus landmark of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It is the longest, highest, and widest surviving stone arch bridge in Hangzhou. The bridge spans 98 meters with a height of 16 meters, featuring a three-arch thin-pier structure. The deck is paved with long bluestone slabs, flanked by stone balustrades and pillar posts carved with lotus motifs in an antique and majestic style. The name "Gongchen" derives from the phrase "gongweichenji," meaning to guard the imperial seat with reverence, symbolizing respect for the emperor. Historically, Gongchen Bridge marked the terminal point where canal shipping boats arrived in Hangzhou, and merchants from all over would dock and disembark here, gradually forming a bustling market on the west side of the bridge, creating the magnificent scene of "Ten Li of Silver Hushu." Today, Gongchen Bridge remains vibrant with traffic and pedestrians. The ancient bridge stretches across the sparkling canal waters, with the Qiaoxi Historical and Cultural Block on the west bank and the commercial district on the east bank. At dusk, the setting sun casts its glow on the ancient stone railings while canal boats glide slowly by—a truly moving scene.

The Qiaoxi Historical and Cultural Block is located on the west bank of Gongchen Bridge and is one of the best-preserved historical blocks along the Hangzhou section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Covering an area of about 7.8 hectares, the block retains a large number of residential houses, workshops, shops, and dock ruins from the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican era, fully presenting the historical features of canal handicraft civilization. Strolling through the block, visitors see bluestone roads flanked by restored black-tiled and white-walled buildings. Along the street are time-honored shops such as Zhang Xiaoquan, Wang Xingji, and West Lake Silk Umbrella, as well as numerous independent cafes, cultural creative studios, and handicraft workshops. The block houses four national-level thematic museums: China Umbrella Museum, China Knife, Scissors and Sword Museum, China Fan Museum, and Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum. The block connects with Xiaohe Straight Street to the south and extends north to the Grand Canal Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall and Zhang Daxian Temple, with a total length of about 1.5 kilometers.

The China Umbrella Museum is located within the Qiaoxi Historical and Cultural Block and officially opened to the public in 2009. It is the only thematic museum in the world dedicated to umbrellas. With a floor area of about 5,000 square meters and the theme "Umbrellas Across the World," the museum systematically showcases the evolution of Chinese umbrella craftsmanship and the rich imagery of umbrellas in literature, art, and folklore through four major exhibition sections. The museum displays over a thousand umbrella artifacts from the Warring States period to the present, including exquisite West Lake silk umbrellas, Dong ethnic Baijia umbrellas, Yi ethnic Chao'erwa rain capes, and modern automatic umbrellas. Among these, the West Lake silk umbrella—with Hangzhou specialty silk as the surface and bamboo as the frame—is renowned for its gorgeous colors and exquisite craftsmanship, representing one of Hangzhou's most iconic intangible cultural heritage crafts. The museum employs multimedia interactive technologies, allowing visitors to experience the oil-paper umbrella painting process firsthand.

The China Knife, Scissors and Sword Museum is adjacent to the China Umbrella Museum and is part of the Qiaoxi Museum Cluster, officially opened to the public in 2009. With four core thematic exhibition halls——"The Spirit of Knives, Scissors and Swords," "Knives and Our Lives," "The Story of Scissors," and "Sword: From Weapon to Ritual Vessel"—the museum systematically traces the evolutionary trajectory of knives, scissors, and swords throughout Chinese history. The museum collection includes over 2,000 precious artifacts and time-honored brand masterpieces, ranging from Neolithic stone knives and Shang-Zhou bronze swords to Han Dynasty ring-pommel knives, Tang Dynasty hengdao swords, Ming-Qing Longquan swords, and modern Zhang Xiaoquan scissors and Wang Mazi knives. Many of these are classified as national-level cultural relics. The museum places special emphasis on interactive experiences, with immersive zones such as "Forging a Pair of Scissors" and "Sword-Casting Workshop," where visitors can try their hand at forging and blade-grinding under the guidance of professional craftsmen. The museum building itself was converted from an old factory workshop, retaining the rugged aesthetics of industrial heritage.

The China Fan Museum is located within the Qiaoxi Historical and Cultural Block, adjacent to the China Umbrella Museum and China Knife, Scissors and Sword Museum, together forming a unique museum cluster in Hangzhou. The museum was completed and opened in 2009, with a floor area of about 2,000 square meters. With the theme "Chinese Fan Culture," it features three permanent exhibition halls—"Chinese Fan History," "Chinese Fan Art," and "Chinese Fan Folklore"—systematically showcasing the evolutionary journey of fans from ritual objects and cooling tools to artistic treasures. The museum houses over a thousand precious artifacts ranging from fan surface fragments in Warring States silk paintings, Tang-Song round fans, Ming-Qing folding fans, to modern Wang Xingji exquisite fans. Among these, the Southern Song "Silk Round Fan" and the Qing Dynasty "Ivory-bone Fine-colored Painting Folding Fan" are the museum's crown jewels. The museum specially sets up a "Fan Surface Painting Interactive Zone," where visitors can experience fan surface calligraphy and painting creation under professional guidance, appreciating the elegant lifestyle of Chinese literati. The Wang Xingji Fan Studio, founded in 1875, has its fan-making craft listed as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. The museum has a dedicated "Wang Xingji Fan Art Zone" that completely presents the fan-making craftsmanship of this century-old brand.

The Hangzhou Arts and Crafts Museum is located at the southern end of the Qiaoxi Historical and Cultural Block, converted from the old factory building of the former Hangzhou Honglei Silk Weaving Factory, and officially opened to the public in 2009. With a floor area of about 7,000 square meters and the theme "Hangzhou Arts and Crafts," the museum features six permanent exhibition halls that systematically showcase the development of Hangzhou's arts and crafts since the Neolithic Age. The museum houses over 3,000 exquisite arts and crafts pieces, including Du Jinsheng brocade, Southern Song Guan kiln porcelain, Wang Xingji fans, Zhang Xiaoquan scissors, West Lake silk umbrellas, and bamboo weaving crafts, many of which are representative works by national-level master craftsmen. The museum places special emphasis on living inheritance, with "Master Craftsman Studios" set up year-round where visitors can observe the entire creative process of masters on-site and have the opportunity to try their hand at intangible cultural heritage experience projects such as embroidery, bamboo weaving, and folding fan painting. The museum building retains the industrial charm of the original factory building.

Zhang Daxian Temple is located at the north end of the Qiaoxi Historical Block, next to the Grand Canal Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall. It is a small folk temple dedicated to Zhang Daxian, a Taoist priest from the Southern Song Dynasty. Zhang Daxian, originally named Zhang Qizhen, lived in seclusion in Hangzhou during the Southern Song period and was renowned among local communities for his exceptional medical skills and benevolent nature. After his death, he was revered by the people as "Zhang Daxian," and the temple has been maintained for over 700 years. The temple is modest in scale with only one courtyard, but features black tiles, white walls, and upturned eaves—a typical Jiangnan folk temple style. The main hall enshrines a statue of Zhang Daxian, with renowned physicians enshrined on both sides, reflecting the folk belief characteristic of "integrating medicine and Taoism" in Hangzhou. On the small square in front of the temple, stone tables and benches are set up where neighboring residents often play chess, chat, and bask in the sun, full of everyday community life. Every year on the third day of the third lunar month, the temple fair is held.

Xiaohe Park is located south of Xiaohe Straight Street in Gongshu District, along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It was converted from the former Hangzhou Xiaohe Oil Depot site and officially opened to the public in 2022, serving as an important node of the Hangzhou Grand Canal National Cultural Park. Covering an area of about 5.6 hectares, the park ingeniously preserves the industrial relics of the original oil depot, including four large oil tanks, a loading and unloading dock, and oil pipelines, which are connected as a whole through steel structure corridors, landscape walkways, and green vegetation. The four giant oil tanks have been transformed into immersive light and shadow art spaces, presenting brilliant visual effects under built-in lighting at night and making the park a popular new photo spot in Hangzhou. Along the canal side, the park features a waterfront walkway about 10 meters wide, flanked by weeping willows, camphor trees, and cherry blossoms, offering diverse scenery throughout the four seasons. Xiaohe Park's renovation concept embodies Hangzhou's urban renewal approach of "revitalizing industrial heritage through adaptive reuse" and stands as a model project in the construction of the canal cultural belt.

Fuyi Granary is located at the southern section of the Hangzhou segment of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, within Xiawan Lane. It was first built in 1880 during the Qing Dynasty and served as an important granary site in the canal shipping system, hailed alongside Beijing's Nanxincang as the "Twin Gems of Granaries Under Heaven." The granary covers an area of about 8,000 square meters, originally consisting of four rows and five sections totaling sixty rooms. The existing building complex is currently the only well-preserved Qing Dynasty granary architectural cluster in Hangzhou. The entire complex adopts a traditional courtyard-style layout with black-tiled hard-mountain roofs, thick walls, and small windows, incorporating functions of thermal insulation, moisture prevention, and theft protection, reflecting the wisdom of ancient granary architecture. In 2007, Fuyi Granary completed protective renovation and was transformed into a canal culture exhibition center and cultural creative space. The interior houses a permanent exhibition themed "The Canal and Hangzhou," narrating the close relationship between the Grand Canal and Hangzhou's urban development through texts, images, artifacts, and multimedia. Fuyi Granary is one of the heritage sites for the Grand Canal's application for UNESCO World Heritage status.