June 11th marks the Cultural and Natural Heritage Day in China, as well as the 40th anniversary of Hangzhou's being titled as one of the top national historical and cultural cities.

Hangzhou has so far earned three World Cultural Heritages including China's Grand Canal, the West Lake and the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City. All of them are inextricably connected with water.

Tomorrow will be the third "Hangzhou West Lake Day" since the West Lake Cultural Landscape was inscribed on the World Heritage List on June 24, 2011. More tourist attractions around the lake will be open to the public for free, including Hangzhou Zoo and the Yuefei Temple.

Over 2,000 years ago, the West Lake was still a part of Hangzhou Bay. Through natural evolution and dredging, it has gradually transformed into a poetic and enchanting lake known for its oriental culture. Since 2002, when Hangzhou put forward the initiative of "returning the Lake to the residents", it has become a people's park with no walls and no entrance fees.

Another artery of culture, commerce and recreation is the Grand Canal. As the world's longest man-made canal, it is a vast waterway system in eastern China, running from Beijing in the north all the way to Zhejiang province in the south. Hailed as one of the greatest hydraulic projects in human history, it was first constructed and conceived as a unified means of official communication in the Sui Dynasty (7th century AD).

It was added to the World Heritage List on June 22, 2014. A group of intangible heritage artisans carry down the skills and interact with visitors at a tourism exhibition where clay kneading, palm fiber weaving, Tianzhu chopsticks making, traditional way of dyeing and printing silk and other skills are demonstrated to highlight the characteristics of the cities along the Grand Canal and to celebrate the special date. The construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park is an important project during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

"Hangzhou Liangzhu Day" falls on July 6, the day when the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City was elected into the World Heritage List three years ago. It is considered to be a supreme achievement of prehistoric rice-planting civilization of China and East Asia over 5,000 years ago and an outstanding example of the early urban civilization.

In recent years, the protection, research and utilization of Liangzhu relics have been a continuous development. At present, Liangzhu Museum, Archaeological Ruins Park of Liangzhu City, Liangzhu Archaeology & Protection Center are open to the society, while Liangzhu Grand Theatre and Liangzhu Site greenway are under construction.