Grand Canal stars in hit TV show

Adapted from prizewinning novel, series zooms in on those whose lives are influenced by the legendary waterway, Xu Fan reports.

More than 700 years ago, Italian merchant and explorer Marco Polo trekked to China, leaving a deep impression of the Grand Canal — the country's major waterway artery — and providing the detailed portrayal in the famous book, The Travels of Marco Polo, that stirred Europeans' curiosity about the Eastern world.

This also became the inspiration for writer Xu Zechen's best-selling novel Northward, which won the 10th Mao Dun Literature Award thanks to its epic recounting of the canal and riverside people over a turbulent span of more than one century.

In the novel, an Italian explorer who regards Polo as his idol ventures to China during the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to search for his missing younger brother, embarking on a fate-intertwining journey with several Chinese individuals. Narrated in two parallel lines that switch between ancient and modern times, the skillfully structured tale also recounts the stories of their descendants.