NANNING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Sitting in a glass case at a museum in south China's Qinzhou, a glazed porcelain bowl etched with a floral pattern offers a tantalizing clue to this coastal city's maritime-trade past. Despite being centuries old, the bowl bears scarcely any signs of use.

Experts believe that the bowl, instead of being made for use in local households, was likely among the merchandise stockpiled for trade during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), when sugar and ceramics were shipped from Qinzhou to Southeast Asian countries along the Maritime Silk Road.

A historic port city on the coast of the Beibu Gulf in the South China Sea, Qinzhou, located in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is gaining fresh momentum as a maritime hub with the opening of the Pinglu Canal, a major river-to-sea canal project set to become operational on Wednesday.

The canal stretches along the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a strategic trade route connecting China's inland regions with ASEAN and other global markets.

During an inspection tour of Guangxi in December 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping was briefed on the construction progress of the canal in front of a sand-table model.

Guangxi's future growth potential lies in connecting its waterways to the sea and realizing integrated river-sea transport, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said during that trip.

He added that Guangxi should strengthen itself via maritime development, noting that the region has both a strong need and great potential to further expand opening up, both internally and externally.

Running from north to south, the Pinglu Canal links the Xijiang River shipping route with the Beibu Gulf. It is expected to shorten the shipping distance between China's southwestern hinterland and ASEAN, China's largest trading partner, by 560 km and reduce logistics costs by 18 to 30 percent, according to Lu Xinning, vice chairperson of the regional government of Guangxi.

China's natural river systems generally run from west to east toward the sea, making it difficult to rely on existing rivers and lakes to connect the country's north and south.

China has a long history of building canals. The best-known is the more than 2,500-year-old Grand Canal, the world's oldest and longest artificial waterway system, and a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2014.

Xi has attached great importance to the protection and revitalization of the Grand Canal. He once stressed that the Grand Canal is a "precious heritage passed down to us by our ancestors."

In 2006, when he was secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, he took a "water bus" along a section of the Grand Canal in the provincial capital Hangzhou to inspect cleanup and revitalization of the canal. The "water bus" passenger service, launched in 2004, was the first of its kind along an urban Grand Canal network.

Along the way, Xi asked in detail about everything from waterway network protection and shipping operations to the development of scenic areas along the canal. He encouraged Hangzhou officials to turn the canal into "a canal for the people" and "a canal for visitors," stressing that the people should be the ultimate beneficiaries.

His attention to the Grand Canal has remained unchanged over the years. In November 2020, as China's top leader, Xi visited the eastern city of Yangzhou, where some of the waterway system's oldest sections are located. "For centuries, the canal has nourished the cities and people along its banks, bringing prosperity and well-being to them," he said.

"I hope everyone will work together to protect the Grand Canal and ensure that it continues to benefit the people for generations to come," he told local officials and residents.

Yangzhou, described by Xi as a "wonderful place built along the water, thriving on it and made beautiful by it," is a vivid example of how the Grand Canal has nourished a city and shaped its fortunes.

Just like Yangzhou, Qinzhou today is poised to reap the benefits of greater connectivity -- this time, connectivity from river to sea, thanks to the Pinglu Canal.

The Pinglu Canal is bringing to life the historical tradition of the Grand Canal in a new era, a tradition of fostering prosperity through waterways, said Xie Zhujun, a researcher with the Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences. Ultimately, the purpose of a canal is to improve people's livelihoods and deliver broader economic and social benefits, he noted.

For Ning Qiongri, a Qinzhou native and a vlogger who has posted some 1,600 videos chronicling the construction of the Pinglu Canal, the project promises not only greater prosperity, but also a better life for local people.

"Many people find jobs thanks to the canal's construction. I've also seen brand-new villages and schools built along its banks, as well as supermarkets and restaurants that are eager to name themselves after the canal," Ning revealed.■