Folk artists perform Liuqin Opera at a traditional theater in Tai'erzhuang.Photo by Ju Chuanjiang/China Daily

"A boat loaded with 50 tons was generally hauled by seven men. It was very cool when I sang and others responded in different voices," he recalls.

"The lead singer earned the biggest salaries among boatmen - about 15 dayang (a Republic of China silver dollar) a month - enough to feed the whole family then. Other boatmen were only paid 4 dayang."

The trade began to vanish when engines started to become more common in the 1950s. "I've seen ups and downs of canal life. I just hope more young people can know the art form and understand bygone days."

The 2,000-year-old Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the world's longest an

Wicker artists find sucess after hardship

According to The Summary of the Ancient Chinese Novel published in 2005, over 70 percent of novels from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties depicted stories set along the Grand Canal during Chinese literature's heyday.

Zaozhuang is the first Shandong city the Grand Canal enters.

"The opening and flourishing of the Grand Canal not only turned Zaozhuang into a communication and economic hub during the Ming and Qing dynasties but also has left rich cultural legacies," Zaozhuang's cultural relics bureau director Shao Lei says.

The city now contains 406 intangible culture heritage items above the municipal level, including haozi, Liuqin Opera, storytelling in local dialect with drum accompaniment and Zaozhuang shadow puppetry.

"The canal caused the country's businesspeople to converge in the city, bringing diverse cultures and folk arts," Shao says.

The Zaozhuang government built a 10,000-square-meter national expo park for intangible cultural heritage in the ancient town of Tai'erzhuang alongside the canal.

Qing Emperor Qianlong once praised Tai'erzhuang as "the world's most affluent town". But it was destroyed during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

Since 2009, 1.7 billion yuan ($278 million) has been allocated to restore the town to its former glory.