Heritage Corridor Construction in the Sui–Tang Grand Canal’s Henan Section Based on the Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) Model

Current research on heritage corridors predominantly focuses on linear heritage in Europe and America, while studies in Asia urgently need to be expanded. This study investigates China’s linear heritage. Based on the minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model, it conducts heritage corridor construction for the Henan section of the Sui–Tang Grand Canal, and reveals the following: (1) A total of 252 heritage sites were classified into three categories: canal hydraulic heritage (13.5%), canal settlement heritage (21.4%) and related heritage (65.1%), exhibiting a “local clustering under global dispersion” pattern with a core–secondary–edge structure. (2) The influence of natural–social resistance factors was ranked as follows: elevation > roads > land use > slope. Interwoven corridors were simulated by GIS and optimized to four primary corridors with multiple secondary corridors. (3) The transverse zone of the primary corridors was stratified into core area (0–10 km from the centerline), buffer area (10–25 km), and influence area (>25 km) with a total width of 25–30 km. The longitudinal section was partitioned into four subsections based on hydrological continuity and heritage density. Then, a tripartite conservation framework characterized by “heritage clusters–holistic corridor–transverse stratification and longitudinal section” was proposed. It aimed to provide insights into methodologies and content structuring for transnational linear heritage (e.g., the Silk Road and the Inca Trail).