NANJING — A museum themed on the Grand Canal, a vast waterway connecting the northern and southern parts of China, opened to the public on June 16 in the eastern Chinese city of Yangzhou.

It is the country's first comprehensive modern museum integrating preservation, scientific research and exhibition of cultural relics, and social education on the Grand Canal.

The museum, shaped like a giant ship, covers an area of around 79,000 square meters and consists of five parts.

It currently houses more than 10,000 pieces of cultural relics including ancient books, calligraphy, inscriptions and ceramics, displaying the history of the Grand Canal from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) to the contemporary era.

The museum is expected to attract 1.5 million visitors annually over the next one to two years, said Zheng Jing, curator of the museum.

With a history of more than 2,500 years, the Grand Canal connects Beijing and Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province, serving as a significant transportation artery in ancient China.