The first episode of the documentary Wonder Bridge features Gongchen Bridge, the southernmost end of the Grand Canal. [Video/The Grand Canal International Communication Center]

Wonder Bridge, a bilingual documentary series celebrating the eighth anniversary of the Grand Canal being inscribed onto the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list in 2014, launched its first episode highlighting the Gongchen Bridge, the southernmost end of the canal, on June 22.

In the 10-episode series, Shi Tou and Zuo Sheng, a pair of friends since childhood, set out on a journey to explore the historical stories of the canal they have heard from a young age.

Through in-depth interviews and the filming of merchants, vendor artists, and indigenous people along the canal, including a bridge patroller who inspected the bridge until he retired, a craftsman who wakes up at 3 o'clock every day, a ballroom owner who hasn't raised their prices for 30 years, and a historian who loves to write love poems, the documentary records the changes in people's lives near the bridge and the development stories on both sides of the canal.

"We trace the development of canal culture, reveal touching stories of ordinary people living by the canal, and prove that there is much good and love in the city," said Wu Chen, director of the documentary.