"It used to be the site of the old Suqian Port before the park's construction. There was a raft of dilapidated factory ruins, abandoned houses and polluted rivers, affecting the lives of local people," Gao Xiaoliang, director of the Suqian Museum, told a media tour group visiting the park on June 24.

Suqian government's endeavors of building a scenic park upon the industrial ruins by the canal is in line with the national trend of protecting the ancient hydraulic engineering wonder and giving its surroundings makeovers to burnish its image as a World Heritage Site.