The culture of the Grand Canal is an important part of China’s excellent traditional culture, and efforts should be made to protect, inherit and utilize it, so that the ancient Grand Canal can radiate a new look of the times. This paper analyzed 276 provincial-level cultural heritage conservation entities located within the Jiangsu segment of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Employing spatial geographic analysis techniques, including point kernel density analysis and the centre of gravity migration model, alongside analytical instruments such as ArcGIS and GeoProbe, this study meticulously scrutinizes the historical evolution, spatial distribution patterns, and typological attributes of these units.The findings reveal a temporal trend characterized by a pronounced oscillatory movement in the quantity of heritage conservation units, delineated as a “low-high-low” pattern. Spatially, these units exhibit a “gathering-spreading-gathering”configuration. The spatial disposition of cultural heritage entities is discernibly belt-shaped. In terms of attributional explanation, the water system indicators under the natural dimension, and the cultural and economic indicators under the social dimension have high explanatory power for the differences in the distribution of cultural heritage protection units. Thus, the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage in the Jiangsu segment of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal should be further strengthened in terms of cultural heritage living inheritance and regional sustainable development, ecological civilization construction and cultural heritage integration practice.