The second Zhejiang Grand Canal World Cultural Heritage Promotion Week is launched in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province on June 21. [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

The second Zhejiang Grand Canal World Cultural Heritage Promotion Week was launched in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province on June 21.

Spanning more than 2,000 kilometers from Beijing to Hangzhou, the Grand Canal is a UNESCO heritage site and is the longest and oldest man-made canal in the world.

The canal passes through five cities –Hangzhou, Ningbo, Huzhou, Jiaxing and Shaoxing - in Zhejiang, and 13 places along the river have been designated as heritage items.

Zhejiang is the first provincial area in the nation to roll out a regulation protecting the Grand Canal.

A monitoring system designed for the canal was also put into operation at the launch ceremony.

The system, which adopts cutting-edge technologies including geographic information, remote sensing monitoring, Internet of Things and cloud computing, will comprehensively improve Zhejiang's capability in canal management and conservation.