The 38th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee was held in Doha, the capital of Qatar. At 10:10 PM on June 22th in Doha (3:19 PM CST), the session announced that China's Grand Canal was inscribed on the World Heritage list, which becomes the 46th World Heritage site in China; while the Silk Roads: Initial Section of the Silk Roads, the Routes Network of Tian-shan Corridor (Kyrgyzstan, China and Kazakhstan) became the first successful World Heritage Serial and Transnational Nomination submission. As a result, China now owns a total of 47 World Heritage sites.

Before 2014, China had 45 World Heritage sites, second only to Italy.

The Grand Canal (also known as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal) is the longest canal or artificial river in the world and a famous tourist destination. The section recognized by UNESCO runs some 1,011 km through 25 cities of two municipalities and six provinces from south to north China. Therefore, the Changzhou City Section of Jiangnan (or South of the Yangtze) Canal becomes the first World Heritage site in Changhzou.

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