China Adds Four Irrigation Heritage Sites, Total Reaches 46

China's heritage designations are usually read as cultural diplomacy, but the more consequential layer is water governance: these are working irrigation systems, not museums, and recognition tends to bring funding and documentation pressure that can reshape how they are managed. The Marseille venue matters too, since the ICID list is one of the few global technical forums where Chinese water infrastructure is assessed on engineering rather than geopolitical terms. Whether inscription translates into actual conservation commitments, or remains a tally of listings, is the open question.