Introduction
On the afternoon of April 12, the "China Industrial Heritage Protection Catalog (Second Batch)" press conference was held at the China Science and Technology Hall, hosted by the China Association for Science and Technology's (CAST) Department of Publicity and organized by the CAST Innovation Strategy Institute and the Urban Planning Society of China (UPSC).
UrbanDATA's urban renewal project—Shanghai Shipyard/Rui Rong Shipyard—has been included in this catalog, recognized for its historical value and representation of China's modern industrial development. These elements were systematically studied and preserved from the project's inception, forming the foundation for the site's transformation.
Conference Site
The conference was presided over by Zhao Lixin, Deputy Director of the CAST Innovation Strategy Institute. Attendees included: Guo Zhe, Director of CAST's Publicity Department; Ren Fujun, Director of the CAST Innovation Strategy Institute; Shi Nan, Executive Deputy Director and Secretary-General of UPSC; Qu Changhong, Deputy Secretary-General of UPSC; Sun Xiaochun, Director of the Chinese Society for the History of Science and Technology; Liu Boying, Deputy Director of the Industrial Heritage Research Association; Yang Ling, Director of the Research Department of China Railway Museum; Zhang Zhimin, Deputy Secretary-General of China Science Writers Association; Yu Haihong, Secretary-General of the History Committee of China Coal Society; as well as leaders from China Shipbuilding Engineering Society, China Textile Engineering Society and other relevant associations, all of whom delivered speeches at the conference.
Shi Nan, Executive Deputy Director and Secretary-General of UPSC, further explained the background and significance of China's Industrial Heritage Protection Catalog: First, to raise public awareness of industrial heritage protection; second, to support scientific decision-making; third, to inherit and develop urban culture. Shi Nan emphasized that the core objective is to promote the transformation and upgrading of urban economic development through industrial heritage protection. From an urban planning perspective, he pointed out that industry is a core element of urban development, and industrial heritage represents important cultural genes of a city. How to achieve the inheritance of these genes is a historical challenge. In the process of revitalizing heritage, we must emphasize holistic and systematic thinking, starting from the city's distinctive features, to integrate industrial heritage into contemporary life and make it an important part of public daily life. Finally, Shi Nan called on all sectors of society to jointly explore and protect industrial heritage.
Following the release of the first batch of the Industrial Heritage Protection Catalog in January 2018, which received widespread social attention and positive impact, actively promoting the protection and utilization of China's industrial heritage, the CAST Innovation Strategy Institute and UPSC continued to conduct surveys and screening of industrial heritage with the support of CAST's Publicity Department and Academic Department and various relevant associations. Based on fully soliciting expert opinions from relevant associations, they compiled and released to the public the second batch of China's Industrial Heritage Protection Catalog. (Specific list provided below)
The industrial heritage included in the second batch of the catalog also possesses outstanding and typical technical value, historical value, and social value. They represent the developmental context of China's modern industrial technology, management, and organizational innovation, bearing witness to the hard work of scientists, engineers, and workers.
These heritage sites include enterprises established during the Westernization Movement, as well as projects from the "156 Projects" and "Third Front Construction" after the founding of New China; they encompass both bureaucratic capitalist enterprises and foreign-funded and national capitalist enterprises; they cover well-known categories such as shipbuilding, military industry, and railways, as well as rarely noticed industries like lighthouses, tobacco, and water supply.
China Industrial Heritage Protection Catalog (Second Batch)
Location: No. 5299 Binjian Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai
Year Established: 1853
Main Remains: Sluice gate, dock
Reasons for Inclusion: Shanghai's first complete modern dock in history, known as the "Best Dock in the Far East"; remained in use until the mid-1990s, witnessing the development of Shanghai's and even China's modern shipbuilding industry, holding milestone significance in China's shipbuilding history; Shanghai's earliest surviving modern dock.
Location: No. 1777 Binjiang Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai; No. 640 Yangshupu Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai
Year Established: 1862
Main Remains:
- Pudong: Machinery manufacturing workshop, 1 shipway
- Yangpu: Dock No. 1, Dock No. 2, old ship slipway of Rui Rong Shipyard, office building of Rui Rong Shipyard, materials department building, outfitting workshop, original warehouse of Oriental Cotton Mill; manual winches, bollards, anchors, oil tanks, wire ropes; archives, stocks, historical photos, oral accounts from witnesses
Location: Shugang Road, Xigang District, Dalian City, Liaoning Province
Year Established: 1898
Main Remains: South Dock, South Dock pumping room, two Japanese-made pumps; North Dock; ship hull workshop; central power station, fire station building; technical school (former Tsarist Russian municipal government residence); archives, factory history, historical photos; "Dachuan Spirit", "Aircraft Carrier Spirit"
Reasons for Inclusion: Fully witnesses the development history of China's modern shipbuilding industry, having gone through different historical periods including Russian preparation, Japanese occupation, Soviet takeover, Sino-Soviet joint operation, and Chinese management; currently one of China's largest and most advanced shipyards; one of China's early modern shipyards and an important northern shipbuilding industrial base, one of the machine manufacturers born simultaneously with Dalian city, with its central power station being the only one in Dalian area at that time; a national key construction project during the First Five-Year Plan period; built New China's first 10,000-ton ship "Yuejin" in the 1950s (with a berth period record of only 58 days, a world breakthrough marking the leap in China's shipbuilding level), first high-power marine low-speed diesel engine, first 20,000-ton oil tanker in the 1960s, first missile destroyer in the 1970s, first export ship in the 1980s, first VLCC in the 1990s, until becoming the first deepwater semi-submersible drilling platform in the 21st century - China's earliest shipyard to build 100,000-ton class and above ships and export ships, having created over 70 "firsts" in China's shipbuilding industry; one of China's strongest surface ship research and production shipyards, having built the most warships for the People's Navy - over 820 warships of 45 types since the founding of New China, hailed as the "Cradle of Chinese Naval Vessels"; assisted in building over a dozen Third Front factories, supporting nearly 6,000 personnel
Location: No. 40 South Fangcun Avenue, Liwan District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
Year Established: 1914
Main Remains: 1 dock; No. 1, 2, 3 shipways; archives, factory records, historical photos
Reasons for Inclusion: One of South China's most important shipbuilding enterprises, an important witness to New China's shipbuilding industry development, main builder of New China's South China Sea vessels, having made tremendous contributions to New China's coastal defense; built New China's first generation combat speedboats (Type 6602 torpedo boats), trained China's first generation of speedboat researchers, designers and builders; built China's first and world's most advanced large semi-submersible transport ship "Tai'an Kou", China's first luxury ro-ro passenger ship "Weisibi", China's and Asia's first shipyard to develop and manufacture ro-ro passenger ships, established China's first container factory (1979); China's first listed shipbuilding company
Location: No. 9 Zhongshan East 1st Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai; No. 1 Jimo Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai; No. 37 Guantao Road, Shibei District, Qingdao City; No. 24 Jiangbian Road, Gulou District, Nanjing City
Year Established: 1872
Main Remains: 1 office building, Fifth Wharf (Yangjiadu Wharf); Qingdao: branch office building; Nanjing: 1 office building; archives (stored in Shanghai Archives), historical photos, stocks, interest coupons, advertisements; signboard "China Merchants" written by Tan Yankai
Reasons for Inclusion: The earliest large-scale official steamship shipping enterprise in modern China, and the first modern civil enterprise operated by the Qing government, changing the purely government-run pattern of late Qing Westernization enterprises, being the first to adopt the joint-stock system, marking the Westernization Group's shift from military to civil industries; one of the few enterprises established during the Westernization Movement that continues to this day; opened China's first coastal commercial route, breaking foreign firms' monopoly on China's shipping; in 1875, established China's first self-run insurance industry and erected its first dedicated telephone line; the first time Chinese industrial and commercial enterprises acquired foreign assets (purchased American Russell & Co. in 1876), invested in and established China's earliest modern large-scale coal mining enterprise (Kaiping Mining Administration), trialed China's first modern bonded warehouse in Shanghai, invested in and established China's first modern bank (Imperial Bank of China); played an important role during the wartime relocation
Location: No. 14 Taiping Road, Shinan District, Qingdao City, Shandong Province
Year Established: 1892
Main Remains: Huilan Pavilion, breakwater; approach bridge, arched bridge; archives, historical photos
Reasons for Inclusion: Qingdao's earliest military-purpose artificial pier structure, designed and built by Chinese engineers themselves; an important landmark and famous scenic spot in Qingdao, with "Flying Pavilion over Surging Waves" being praised as one of "Ten Scenes of Qingdao"
Location: No. 13 Nanshan Street, Haigang District, Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province
Year Established: 1898
Main Remains: Large wharf, small wharf, Nanshan signal tower, old dock; Kailuan Mining Administration office building, traffic department, Qinhuangdao Manager's Office of Kaiping Mining Administration, Kailuan Mining Administration Qinhuangdao Senior Staff Club, special housing for foreign staff, pilot housing, etc.; archives, port records, memoirs, historical photos
Reasons for Inclusion: One of China's first batch of self-opened ports in modern times and an early important coal export port; an important hub port for transporting coal from north to south in China and the world's largest energy export port; currently the only relatively complete modern port industrial heritage system among national key cultural relics protection units, serving as physical evidence of Kailuan Mining Administration's transportation and management system and the development of China's modern industry, mining and transportation, witnessing Qinhuangdao Port's important position and historical influence in China's modern industrial development history, especially in Kailuan Mining Administration's history and coal transportation history, as well as the port's important role in Qinhuangdao's urban construction and economic development
Location: Gangwan Street, Zhongshan District, Dalian City, Liaoning Province
Year Established: 1899
Main Remains: Dalian Port Authority office building, Dalian Port waiting hall; 4 pier wharves (No.1-4), 3 shoreline wharves (A, B, C), Nagato-cho Wharf, breakwater; Warehouse 15, 20, 22, material warehouses; first signal station; harbor bridge; pulley blocks; historical photos
Reasons for Inclusion: One of China's early important ports, the starting point of Dalian city, becoming the number one commercial port in East Asia in the 1940s; Warehouse 15 was the largest single-port warehouse in East Asia at the time with the highest level of mechanization, known as the "Number One Warehouse in East Asia"
Location: No. 124 Gexin Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province
Year Established: 1904
Main Remains: 3 T-shaped concrete pier bridges, 7 brick-wood structure warehouses; 1 water tower
Reasons for Inclusion: A relatively complete wharf storage system in the early 20th century, adopting relatively advanced overall design, building materials, construction techniques and moisture-proof measures at the time; after the founding of New China, it was the busiest operational wharf in Guangzhou's inner port area with the highest ship arrival density and throughput; an important departure point for Guangzhou's educated youth going to Zhanjiang and Hainan to participate in southern border construction; a model for industrial heritage revitalization and utilization
Location: No. 386 Gongqing Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai; No. 3945 Yixian Road, Baoshan District, Shanghai
Year Established: 1905
Main Remains: Existing Bailu (former Shanghai Dredging Bureau staff club) on Fuxing Island, club garden, Dinghai Road Bridge, West Junpu Road (now Gongqing Road), Fuxing Island Canal, Fuxing Island Recovery Monument; existing 1 dock, 1 office building, wood pattern workshop and machining workshop at Zhanghuabang Works; archives, historical photos; Complete Records of Shanghai Port
Reasons for Inclusion: Established under the provisions of the Boxer Protocol as the modern Shanghai Port authority responsible for waterway management and improvement, providing important guarantees for Shanghai Port to become a world-class port; Dinghai Road Bridge was the first bridge across the Huangpu River within Shanghai's urban area
Company Profile
UrbanDATA was established in Shanghai in February 2004. The Youshi Architectural Design Firm, which obtained Class-A special qualification from the Ministry of Construction, was also established in September 2006. Our business covers urban planning, architectural design, landscape design and project planning. We have gathered outstanding professionals from both China and abroad, with the capability to integrate top international institutions and talents.
Our company adheres to the pursuit of excellence and inclusive innovation, striving to reach world-leading levels in the design field. We are committed to providing high-quality services to our clients. Our design team consists of outstanding designers from China and abroad, with advanced concepts and rich experience, always adhering to the advanced design philosophy of professionalism, pragmatism and pioneering spirit. Since its establishment, the company has established good cooperative relationships with many provincial and municipal governments, real estate companies and overseas enterprises and other domestic and foreign clients, and has undertaken a large number of projects of different scales and sizes. Our works reproduce local cultural values with an international perspective, and have stood out in fierce competition many times with profound detailed considerations and perfect superb designs, winning high praise from the industry and clients.
This article is reproduced from "China Urban Planning".