Ruins and Red - Observations of Chengdu's Industrial Heritage

Ruins and Red Observations of Chengdu's Industrial Heritage

By Chengrang Bai Student ID: 20060256 Email: baichengrang@qq.com

MSA Architecture and Urbanism 2021

Cover painting, by Wennan Fan

Copyright © 2021 Manchester, United Kingdom ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Manchester School of Architecture Manchester Metropolitan University (Student ID: 20060256) University of Manchester Copyright reserved by Chengrang Bai MA Architecture and Urbanism ii

Table of Contents Acknowledgments V Introduction 2 Chapter 1 The Vanishing Ruins 1.1 The Vanishing Palace: The Changing Centre of Chengdu 1.1.1 The Shu Palace and the Chengdu Examination Hall 1.1.2 Echoes of the Ruins

3 4 5 8

1.2 The Vanishing Factories: Background and Status of Chengdu's Industrial Heritage 10 1.3 Chengdu's Industrial Heritage Features 1.3.1 Building layout and structure 1.3.2 Architectural style Chapter 2 The Rebirth of Ruins 2.1 Precedent: The Ruhr industrial region 2.1.1 Overall strategy 2.1.2 Complete transformation of traditional industry and improvement of infrastructure 2.1.3 Active cultivation of new industries 2.1.4 Supporting industrial transformation through research institutes and higher education 2.1.5 International Building Exhibition

2.2 Recreating Red Memories 2.2.1 Chengdu Eastern Suburb Memory Park 2.2.2 Chongqing Industrial Museum

22 24 35

2.3 Neoliberal aggression: Beijing 798 art zone 2.3.1 Glorious history 2.3.2 The power struggle in the Arts Zone

38 39 42

Chapter 3 The Forgotten ruins 3.1 The end of Factory 420 3.2 Urban Exploration: Measure the city by ourselves

45 46 49

12 12 14

Conclusion

53

17

Credits 57

Reference 55

18 19 19 20 20 21 iii

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Acknowledgements On this occasion of completing my dissertation, I would like to thank the teachers at the Manchester School of Architecture for the training I received during my MA and my fellow students who completed studies with me. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Eamonn.

His meticulous and conscientious work style has been an example for me to follow and has deeply influenced and inspired me. In the process of writing my dissertation, Professor Eamonn has helped me to develop my research ideas and provided me with meticulous guidance, and I have benefited greatly from his knowledge and rigour. I would also like to thank all the teachers and students who have provided me with valuable advice. I would also like to thank the residents of Factory 420 for their help during my fieldwork. Finally, I would like to thank my family for their encouragement and support.

Although I have come to the end of this thesis, I still feel many regrets after thinking about it for a long time. Due to my professional and energy limitations, this dissertation still has many shortcomings, and I would like to invite criticism from experts and scholars. My master's degree is coming to an end, but my studies are not over yet, I still have a long way to go, and I will continue to move forward and strive for greater progress. v

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Introduction A building often reveals its essence at two glorious moments. The first is during its construction, when its structure and skeleton reveal its future character and form. The second is in its final state of ruin, usually after it has been abandoned, its decoration weathered and flaked, crumbling in a dilapidated and dangerous state. The dull colour reflects its time, its history and draws back memories of the past. The layers evoke a dusty past, a time when people used to live and work within these walls. In its abandoned state it stands as a microcosm of past memories before it collapses or is completely destroyed.

For these ruins architects and urban planners often choose to step in and restore, reuse or rebuild. But when certain buildings are abandoned by the cultures or people who use them, we also have other options. We can also choose to let go. Every building has a time limit. Some great works are like flowers, butterflies or snowflakes that bring us a better and richer life before disappearing. Nostalgia is unnecessary if their life is prolonged by modern technology and reuse without benefit.

On architecture in a deteriorating condition, the human geographer Tim Edensor (2005) states in Industrial Ruins: Space, Aesthetics and Materiality: Standing in contrast to these aesthetically and socially regulated spaces are the neglected sites of industrial ruins, places on the margin which accommodates transgressive and playful activities. Providing a different aesthetic to the over-designed spaces of the city, ruins evoke an aesthetics of disorder, surprise and sensuality, offering ghostly glimpses into the past and a tactile encounter with space and materiality. Tim Edensor highlights the danger of destroying such evocative sites in order to build new developments. It is precisely their fragmentary nature and lack of fixed meaning that render ruins deeply meaningful. They blur boundaries between rural and urban, past and present and are intimately tied to memory, desire and a sense of place.

Just as when I walked into some of the old residential areas of Chengdu, it was always easy to find traces and memories of the factories but difficult to find the factories themselves. This peculiar experience makes me curious about the fate of these ruins - industrial heritage. In this article, I will take some of Chengdu's industrial heritage and some classic Western industrial heritage as the objects of observation, and try to sketch out three kinds of endings for ruins: Vanishing, Rebirth and Forgotten.

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Chapter 1 The Vanishing Ruins Chengdu Chengdu is located in central Sichuan, China.

The surrounding Chengdu Plain is known as the "Land of Heaven" (Pinyin: Tianfu zhi Guo) and the "Land of Abundance". Its prehistoric settlers included the Sanxingdui culture.

The site of Dujiangyan, an ancient irrigation system, has been designated a World Heritage Site. The Jinjiang River flows through the city.

Sichuan basin (Chengdu Plain), by Jianan

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1.1 The Vanishing Palace: The Changing Centre of Chengdu

From the disappearance of the historical site Shu Palace to the new construction of TianFu Square, we can witness the rise and fall of Chengdu's urban development and industrialisation.

The first point to note is that Chengdu is historically unique in that it is the only major city in China with a long history that has not changed its name or urban centre for some 2,500 years since it was named Chengdu.

This is probably due to the fact that Chengdu is located in the centre of the Sichuan Basin (Chengdu Plain), which gives the land a great geographical advantage and gives it a strong centripetal and cohesive force.

The centre of the city of Chengdu today is Tianfu Square. In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Shu Dynasty established the Shu Palace, which was located on the north-south axis of Tianfu Square, forming a large complex of buildings similar to the Forbidden City complex in Beijing along a symmetrical east-west axis. It can be said that the Shu Palace complex was the original form of today's Tianfu Square.

A map of Chengdu from 1911, with the Shu Palace clearly visible in the centre, by Sichuan Museum

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The Centre of Chengdu

1.1.1 The Shu Palace and the Chengdu Examination Hall According to Shu Dao Wu (Ancient Chinese Book), in the 14th century the Ming emperor installed his eleventh son, Zhu Chun, as King of Shu, and built the Shu Palace in the centre of Chengdu. The Shu Palace is typical of the Chinese royal style of architecture. It took five years and a great deal of money to build the palace, which was surrounded by a moat, defensive walls and a large forest. In 1644, Zhang Xianzhong (Emperor of the Great West) occupied Chengdu, using the Shu Palace as his imperial palace. Zhang Xianzhong left in 1646 and the imperial city was also burned down on his orders.

At the end of the 17th century, the Qing government built a new palace Restored model of the Shu Palace, by Sichuan Museum

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on the site of the old Shu Palace, known as the Chengdu Examination Hall, which was preserved in relatively good condition until the 1950s and is now commonly called the Old Imperial City by Chengdu residents.

The overall spatial layout of the Chengdu Examination Hall still follows the original layout of the Shu Palace, of which the main building of the Chengdu Examination Hall was built on the basis of the main building of the Shu Palace, differing slightly from other Examination Halls of the time in terms of scale, design style, category and fineness of carving.

In this case, it not only reduced the cost of building the Chengdu Examination Hall, but also saved the time for completion, while preserving the previous architectural style and culture. The central axis of the Chengdu Examination Hall essentially coincides with that of the present Sichuan Science and Technology Museum (SSTM) (Ying and Fan, 2000).

The Chengdu Examination Hall in the Qing Dynasty in 1950s

During the Republican period, the Chengdu Examination Hall was used as a civil administration and school in succession, and its buildings were basically well preserved, making it known to the people of Chengdu as the Old Imperial City. After the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, the Old Imperial City became an important location that warlords all wanted to fight over.

Sichuan became the province with the longest and most costly warlord chaos in China.

In the early years of the founding of New China, the privileged location of the Old Imperial City and its importance as a cultural centre made

The viewing platform on the old city gate in 1957

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this area a priority for urban development. From 1950 onwards, a complete renovation of the Old Imperial City was undertaken and a new viewing platform was built on the old city gate. In 1957, in anticipation of the tenth anniversary of the founding of New China, a series of partial renovations were undertaken to form a new city centre, before the Old Imperial City was demolished. However, in 1968, during the Cultural Revolution, the Chengdu government carried out a massive and complete demolition of the Old Imperial City, removing all of its ancient buildings. A square, a statue of Chairman Mao and the Long Live Mao Zedong Thought Memorial Hall (Now is SSTM) were built in the centre of the city, following the planning model popular in major Chinese cities at the time, a typical architectural design approach of the Mao era.

Sichuan Science and Technology Museum in 1969

Sichuan Science and Technology Museum, by VCG.com

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1.1.2 Echoes of the Ruins The demolition of the Old Imperial City, once one of the most historically and culturally valuable buildings in Chengdu, is an important sign of the city's forced cultural transformation. As a result, the preservation and transmission of the city's millennia-old history and culture has come to a near standstill. The loss of the old city walls, pagodas and the Imperial River is also the loss of the physical carriers of Chengdu's long history.

The loss of this complex, which rivals the Forbidden City in Beijing in terms of history and scale, is arguably one of the greatest regrets and losses in the history of urban planning and ancient architecture in Chengdu and China.

Thus, although the ancient buildings of the Old Imperial City no longer exist, the planning structure of the Old Imperial City has been preserved, with the original streets surrounding the Old Imperial City being used as the basis for the construction of the main roads that run together through the centre of the city. Tianfu Square has also become an important part of Chengdu's urban planning. The historical changes in the central space of Chengdu are closely related to the political, economic, social life and cultural factors within the region. As a result of a combination of factors, the structure, function and form of Chengdu's central space has undergone radical changes, but its centre and axis have remained unchanged. This can be said to be the last echo left by this Old Imperial City (Zhu, 1993).

Central axis, Tianfu Square and Boundary of the Shu Palace

The only remaining old city wall in Chengdu

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Sichuan Science and Technology Museum

Statue of Mao

Tianfu Square

The new city centre and Tianfu Square, photo by VCG.com

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1.2 The Vanishing Factories: Background and Status of Chengdu's Industrial Heritage

Five-Year Plan The Five-Year Plan, an important part of China's national economic planning, is a long-term plan. The formulation and implementation of the First Five-Year Plan (1953-1957) marked the beginning of China's systematic construction of socialism. The First Five-Year Plan exceeded the required tasks, achieved rapid growth of the national economy and laid the initial foundation for China's industrialisation.

The First Five-Year Plan of China considered that industrial areas should be far away from the city, so the eastern and northwestern suburbs of Chengdu were set as the main industrial areas, which was reasonable in terms of urban planning layout. Until the early 1990s, Chengdu’s industries were mainly concentrated in the eastern suburbs.

Since the 1990s, with the expansion of cities and the development of urban industries, the key construction center cities, represented by Chengdu, have gradually reconstructed and optimized the urban spatial structure, adjusted the urban industrial structure and built ecological cities, focusing on improving the level of urban construction, enhancing the competitiveness and vitality of cities, and promoting sustainable urban development. The industrial enterprises in these key construction center cities are relocating outward, and the renewal of urban industrial land has ushered in a climax period (Liu and Feng, 2009).

Factories in the 1950s

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With the development and expansion of the city, the urban area of Chengdu gradually spread into the industrial area, and the former industrial area became part of the urban area, especially the highdensity industrial enterprises concentrated in the eastern suburban area, which led to serious environmental problems and significant heat island benefits in the eastern suburbs, etc.

Restructuring of the Eastern Suburbs Industrial Estate can still be found on the official website of the Chengdu Government Conversion

Demolition

In 2001, the Chengdu Municipal People’s Government issued the “Restructuring of the Eastern Suburbs Industrial Estate”, which required the industrial enterprises in the eastern suburbs to move out of the urban area and into the corresponding development zones (Restructuring of the Eastern Suburbs Industrial Estate, 2002). There are four ways to adjust industrial enterprises: partial development, overall replacement, partial relocation, and in situ elimination.The goal is to basically complete the task of relocation in the 11th Five-Year Plan. According to statistics, there are 104 industrial enterprises in the eastern suburbs, covering an area of 11.40 km². With the re-planning of industrial land, it can be seen that the industries in Chengdu are no longer concentrated in the eastern suburbs, but are scattered.

As the industrial era left, factories and the lives of the people of the time were pushed along with the roaring machines, replaced by new residential areas and new commercial complexes.

Factories in 2021

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1.3 Chengdu's Industrial Heritage Features Industrial buildings are also typical of an era, but the industrial history of Chengdu is not as old as that of other industrial cities. This is why the industrial buildings that remain are so valuable, with their typical stylistic features. These industrial ruins are a testament to the city's industrial development, and this section will briefly introduce the characteristics of Chengdu's industrial heritage.

1.3.1 Building layout and structure Now Chengdu has a small industrial heritage, most of which is modern industry from the post-1950s, and basically retains a complete planning layout. The industrial layout of Chengdu is based on the well-established planning concept and construction experience of the former Soviet Union's factories, and follows the principle of clear functional zoning for planning, such as the Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory. As Chengdu is in the plain area, the layout of industrial building heritage is neat and orderly, the plan of single industrial building is simple and the layout of production area is regular. The roads within the factory are systematically planned according to different functional needs, and the factory greenery is increased.

Successful transformation of Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory is now a large exhibition park, by VCG.com

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Railway Railway

River

Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory in 2003

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The structures of Chengdu's industrial heritage are mainly row frame structures, and rigid frame structures are rare in the examples of Chengdu's industrial heritage (Wang, 2012). Among the existing row frame structures of industrial heritage, they can be divided into the following categories according to materials: traditional brick and wood structures, brick column and steel roof frame structures, reinforced concrete structures, and frame systems.

Chengdu Shuijingfang Museum

1.3.2 Architectural style After entering the modern era, the structure, materials and functions of traditional Chinese architecture were severely impacted. As Western countries gradually opened their markets and foreign cultures invaded Chengdu, the Western style expanded. By the time of the foreign affairs movement, Chengdu was influenced by the West, and all industrial buildings were modeled after the Western style. However, the number of such industrial buildings was limited and did not form the mainstream in Chengdu.

Chengdu Locomotive and Rolling Stock Factory Building

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Most of the industrial buildings are still in Chinese style. Chinese style refers to the industrial buildings with traditional Chinese architectural style. These industrial buildings use traditional building materials such as tile, brick and wood, and also use the common sloping roofs in traditional Chinese architecture in their shape. In the list of industrial heritage published by the Chengdu Municipal Planning Bureau, this type of Chinese style industrial heritage is divided into two categories: one is the one that can perfectly interpret the traditional Chinese architectural style through transformation and reuse, such as the Chengdu Shuijingfang Museum. The other category is the one that received the influence of the slogan "national form, socialist content" from the former Soviet Union after the founding of the country ( Ji, 2013), and these industrial buildings only use traditional architectural vocabulary in the roofs, walls, and other places, such as the Chengdu Locomotive and Rolling Stock Factory Building.

Chengdu Tool and Cutting Tool Factory

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Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory

In the "First Five-Year Plan", China made industrial development an important means of economic construction. However, during this period, China had almost no experience in industrial building construction, so experts from the former Soviet Union were sent to China for guidance. The design of industrial buildings was based on Soviet codes and standards from the beginning to the end. Some of the industrial projects in Chengdu were no exception. The architecture of this period was influenced by the national style of "Soviet socialism", adopting traditional architectural styles while inevitably incorporating Soviet national forms. The most characteristic features of the Soviet national architecture were the emphasis on symmetry, the use of spires

and colonnades, the use of elaborate decorations, and the predominance of light gray colors in the buildings. This feature is reflected in the Chengdu Tool and Cutting Tool Factory building, which was completed in 1956.

In addition to the above-mentioned styles, there is also the simple modernist style. The industrial buildings of this period were influenced by modernism and focused on practical functions, so the façade forms were simple. For example, the Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory was built in 1958.

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Chapter 2 The Rebirth of Ruins Cases of factory renovation in the West and China

View of the redeveloped Duisburg Inner Harbour in 2010, by IndianSummer

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2.1 Precedent: The Ruhr industrial region The dramatic changes in post-industrialisation that Chengdu has undergone are merely a repeat of the post-industrialisation of the West a century ago (Lintz et al., 2007). This section will analyse the success of the Ruhr industrial region at the time and its impact on Chengdu as a post-industrial city.

culture and entertainment, scientific exhibitions, sports, training and education, trade and shopping as well as civic leisure, while preserving the original landscape. It comprises eight theme parks, including Emscher Park, Duisburg Park, Science Park, Water Park, Leisure and Sports Park and Sculpture Park.

The Ruhr industrial region in Germany was once an important industrial area in the world and had a pivotal role in the German economy at the time. in the 1960s and 1970s, the Ruhr suffered a "coal crisis" and a "steel crisis" due to competition from cheap oil, which seriously affected the Ruhr economy. The economic structure of the heavy industry, which was dominated by coal mining, steel, coal chemicals and heavy machinery, became increasingly fragile. The decline of the leading industries, the closure of factories, the sharp rise in unemployment, the abandonment of ten floors of plant and machinery, all awaiting "closure, shutdown, consolidation, transformation" and the astronomical sums of money required to dismantle them. The "great industrial city", which had existed for over a hundred years, was in an awkward position (Liu, 2001).

In response, the German government has adopted a new approach of site-specific economic policy and industrial restructuring to transform old industrial areas. Through economic restructuring and industrial transformation, the Ruhr was able to regain its economic glory. The new Ruhr has been transformed into an area that combines heritage, tourism,

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Ruhr, by Thoms Wolf

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2.1.1 Overall strategy

Planning area of IBA Emscher Park, by IBA

At the beginning of the Ruhr's development, the lack of an overall plan for land use, town layout and environmental protection led to a deterioration in the environmental quality of the area and serious damage to the image of the region. In order to promote the coordinated development of the area, the German government enacted a law establishing the Ruhr Coal Management Area Development Association as the supreme planning body for the Ruhr. Its powers have since been expanded and it is now the joint regional planning body for the overall planning and coordination of the development of the mining region.

The Ruhr master plan has played an important role in restructuring the economic and social structure of the Ruhr and has revitalised the century-old industrial area (Dahlbeck and Gärtner, 2019).

2.1.2 Complete transformation of traditional industry and improvement of infrastructure

Ruhr area Map

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In 1968, the government of North Rhine-Westphalia drew up the first industrial restructuring programme, the "Ruhr Development Plan", which focused on cleaning up and reorganising mining areas and concentrating coal mining in large, profitable and highly mechanised mines. This strategy is similar to Chengdu's 'Restructuring of the Eastern Suburbs Industrial Estate' strategy, with a range of incentives to support and transform the coal and steel industries. These incentives include price subsidies, tax incentives, investment subsidies, government buyouts, miner subsidies, environmental subsidies, and research and

development subsidies. In addition, all levels of government laid the foundations for the Ruhr's next development by significantly improving the local transport infrastructure, building and expanding universities and research institutions, and concentrating on land reclamation.

Inevitably, the reclamation of land has also involved the demolition of industrial heritage that is dangerous or of minimal value after a detailed assessment.

UA Ruhr The three largest universities here (RuhrUniversität Bochum, Dortmund University and Duisburg-Essen University) have created an alliance called "UA Ruhr". Students registered at one of the UA Ruhr universities can attend most of the lectures and seminars at all three universities at no extra cost. As a result, students have many options for specialisation and can explore their chosen subject in greater depth.

2.1.3 Active cultivation of new industries In addition to tapping the potential of existing industries, the Ruhr is also focusing on the development of high-potential high-tech and cultural industries in order to increase the competitiveness of the region's industries. Examples include the health engineering and biopharmaceutical industries, the logistics industry, the chemical industry and the cultural industries.

2.1.4 Supporting industrial transformation through research institutes and higher education The Ruhr has developed into the industrial region with the highest density of universities in Europe. In addition to specialised research institutes, each university has a "technology transfer centre", thus creating a system for moving from technology to market application.

At the same time, the government encourages cooperation between companies and between companies and research institutes to create a 'cluster effect' and subsidises projects developed under such cooperation.

Ruhr University, by WIKI

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There are currently 30 technology centres and 600 companies engaged in the development of new technologies throughout the region.

The science park within the park attracts low-pollution, high-tech companies through incentives, such as solar energy and waste treatment research and development centres. It is also very popular with young entrepreneurs.

2.1.5 International Building Exhibition In the new Ruhr there are up to 22 museums and exhibition areas on topics such as smelting, machinery, ores, textiles, railway machinery, chemicals, fossils, paleontological specimens, native species and model ships. The IBA has held more than 70 design competitions to collect and compare different designs and ideas, placing greater emphasis on ecological and cultural qualities than on the economic benefits that are often the focus of these competitions. Many architects have contributed their ideas and designs here. Most of the designs follow the concept of 'keeping things the way they were'. All of these museums and exhibition areas were built in vacant factories and warehouses, rusting blast furnaces, disused equipment, abandoned mines and quarries, railway platforms and docks and industrial waste dumps, all of which were cleverly used.

IBA official website

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It is easy to see that although the local authorities had a general plan and strategy for the whole area, in the actual transformation process each factory, each building and even each mine was transformed and designed in a more rational way through the IBA. This approach of unbundling the industrial heritage to design organisations and local communities is more effective in revitalising the local economy and improving the quality of life of the people.This section briefly introduces the history and transformation process of the Ruhr, an important example of industrial heritage transformation in Western countries. In the next subsection, the characteristics of the transformation of Chinese industrial heritage will be described in relation to the Chinese case.

2.2 Recreating Red Memories The predecessors of Chengdu Eastern Suburb Memory Park and the Chongqing Industrial Museum - Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory and Chongqing Steel Works have very similar historical trajectories, both having been established and flourished in the last century as a result of a previously unmentioned national project - the Third-Front Movement (Started in 1964). The Third-Front Movement was a massive war-oriented programme of defence, science and technology, industrial and transport infrastructure construction and industrial relocation by the Chinese government in the central and western regions of China under the complex historical circumstances of the time.

Third-Front Movement The Third-Front Movement is a large-scale construction of defence, science and technology, industrial, power and transport infrastructure in the interior provinces of China by the government of the People's Republic of China, starting in 1964, for the purpose of preparing for war and drought. The Third Front area is a military geographical concept. Its core areas are in the north-western and south-western regions of China. The background and reason for its inception was to prevent frequent small-scale armament around these regions.

The implementation of the Third-Front Movement served to strengthen China's national defence and improve the overall national productivity layout. This programme also enabled the industrialisation of China's central and western regions to make great progress (Meyskens, 2015).

The programme left a lasting memory of the people from the coastal and south-western regions at the time and gave rise to the Chongqing Steel Works and the Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory.

Both of these factories declined in the late 1990s, but today they are outstanding examples of the successful transformation of industrial heritage in southwest China. The following two subsections will analyse the two factories from different perspectives using them as case studies.

Third Front Region and Geography Third Front Region, by Yang Yang

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Chongqing Steel Works (Now is Chongqing Industrial Museum), by WallaceLiu

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2.2.1 Chengdu Eastern Suburb Memory Park This case study explores how a former industrial ruin can be preserved in its entirety and transformed to achieve new functions and commercial value.

2.2.1.1 Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory Chengdu Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park, located at No. 4, Jianshe South Branch Road, Chengdu, is an urban cultural and creative industry project led by the Chengdu Municipal Government, relying on the former Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory, also known as Factory 773 and Box 106.Located in the eastern suburbs of Chengdu, this factory was one of the 156 heavy industry machinery and defence projects supported by the Soviet Union during the First Five-Year Plan. The Chengdu Eastern Suburbs Industrial Zone is home to 253 large and medium-sized enterprises belonging to the central, provincial and municipal governments, with nearly 200,000 industrial workers working and living in the 40 square kilometre area. In the 1990s, the country's economic system was transformed and many state-owned factories were reformed and reorganised in line with the modern western enterprise system, thus completing the historical role of these Third-line factories.

In order to enhance the image of the city and improve the urban environment, the Chengdu Municipal Government started to restructure Eastern Suburb Memory in 2019

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Phoenix Nirvana A Buddhist term, tells the story of a phoenix who undergoes fiery torment and painful trials to attain rebirth and, in rebirth, ascension.

the industrial area in the eastern suburbs in 2001 and implemented the relocation and transformation of the old factories in the eastern suburbs. By the end of 2006, the restructuring of the Eastern Suburbs Industrial Zone was basically completed, in which the Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory was preserved as industrial heritage and was later turned into a cultural and creative industrial park in Chengdu.

In 2011, under the impetus of the Chengdu Media Group, the Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park was transformed into a multi-cultural park with music, art, theatre, photography and other cultural forms. This series of demolition and commercial development has been described as ‘vacating the cage for new birds’, and the old abandoned factory buildings have been transformed into a visual and cultural landscape, a cultural landscape in the name of nostalgia that has become a medium for reconstructing the city's historical memory.

From Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory to Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park, it is as much about the transformation of space as it is about the production of memory. These industrial heritages, which constitute a strong contrast and mirror image to the current economic form, are often presented in the images as industrial ruins with peeling walls and gloomy greyness. In the process of recreating urban memory, the industrial narrative is nested in a purposive, linear historical narrative. The first part ‘The Factory’ of the documentary "Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks", translated as Rouille (rust), is described as (Lv, 2004): “Chinese industry is identified and spliced within the historical genealogy of Western industry. On the other hand, it also suggests the pre-existence and legitimacy of a historical evolutionary map of Western industrial civilisation. The Tie Xi Qu today is merely a replay of the decline of the traditional industrial Rust Belt district of the American Midwest and the traditional industrial Ruhr district of Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, the unfolding of a common historical rationality in a different time and space, and it is not possible for us to escape the compulsion of this law.”

Poster: Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

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The myth of the rebirth of the industrial heritage within the framework of the "Phoenix Nirvana" narrative is also successfully reflected in Chengdu Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park.

Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory in 2009

Factory Buildings, by Muda You

Interior of the building, by Muda You

Railway, by Muda You

Chimneys and tanks, by Muda You

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B7 B5 B1

B18

B24 B4 B19

B2 B3

Plan of Chengdu Eastern Suburb Memory Park

Hot Pot Restaurant (Production Hall) in 2017, by DZDP.com

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2.2.1.2 Change of function The old industrial area is in the process of creative industrialisation; the old factory buildings of the former Chengdu state-run Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory have been requisitioned and recoded, shaping them into an integrated industrial heritage scene. The old boiler tank directly opposite the entrance to the Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park has been transformed into a fountain. Inside the factory, you can see the boiler tanks and factory facades painted with artistic graffiti, and the hoppers of the coal wagons decorated with flowers. Inside the exhibition area you can see lathes, caesium machines, punching machines, radar cars, model aircraft and a group of sculptures of factory production. The production workshops have been converted into a recreational area. The functional transformation of the architectural space of Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park, is shown in Table 1, which is a microcosm of the spatial representation of the city in which consumption has replaced production.

Table 1: Functional transformation of the architectural space of Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park Building name

Before renovation

After renovation

Changed functions

Building 1

Production lines and transassembly plants

Performing Arts Centre

Art exhibitions, cultural performances

Building 2

Processing plant for pressing and forming glass cones and grinding finished products

1899 Personal Film Factory

Personal Film Shooting and Production

Building 3

Glass screen processing workshop

Badian Space

Live performances, commercial launches

Building 4

Melting and dispensing workshop

Film Cube 7731 IMAX

Film Screening

Building 5

Grinding wastewater treatment station

Visitor Centre

Travel Services

Building 7

Factory office building

Yihan Art Hotel

Themed accommodation

Building 18

Colour TV tube production line, transfer workshop

Diman Tea House

Specialty Dining

Building 19

TV tube parts electron gun manufacturing workshop

1956 Tea House

Specialty Dining

Building 24

Melting workshop and technical office

1810 Beer hall

Themed Bars 28

Aerial view of Chengdu Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park, by VCG.com

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2.2.1.3 The production of memories According to Lefebvre (1992), space is not so much a background or container for social production (the naturalness of space) as it is a product of social relations and influences their production and reproduction (the sociality of space). Urban space not only produces consumer goods, but also the conditions that perpetuate their reproduction, i.e. by calling upon a group of skilful consumers to create a constant flow of consumer demand.

The red brick factory in the eastern suburbs retains the look of the old factories of the 20th century: old factories of exposed red brick with thick walls and towering smoke, arranged in a matchbox-like order, in what is summarised in the architectural art classification as the Bauhaus South Gate in 2019, by VCG.com

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Lay-offs The lay-offs are a wave of layoffs caused by the reform of state-owned enterprises or the restructuring of enterprises, which is called a wave of lay-offs because of the large number of people and the scope of the impact.

The first wave of layoffs began in the 1990s, when state-owned enterprises, which accounted for an absolute proportion of the economy in China, had been inefficient for a number of reasons, including backward management. Many state-owned enterprises faced a series of shocks brought about by the reform and opening up, and had no choice but to carry out the necessary reform measures after restructuring, resulting in the layoffs of employees.

style. In many cities, the old factory buildings of abandoned stateowned factories remain in the old urban areas, and since 2000, these abandoned buildings have become popular with independent artists and art students, who either set up studios and galleries around them or use their large spaces to hold independent art and subcultural gatherings.

There are many pseudo-classic buildings and industrial heritage landscapes throughout China. While it is possible to use technology to imagine a bygone era, the cultural connotations of these imitations in their specific contexts may be long gone, their souls having disappeared along with the ruins. But the authentic reproduction of memories reformed in the renovation may be a romantic nostalgia for historical memory. Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park, along with Jinli Ancient Street and Kuanzhai Alley, is listed by the Chengdu municipal government as Chengdu's cultural calling card. The landscaping of Jinli Ancient Street and Kuanzhai Alley is mostly based on the renovation of ancient buildings to present a recreated aesthetic, with a view to evoking historical traces and nostalgic imagery; while the landscaping of industrial heritage is precisely about preserving the rusted and mottled exterior, constituting metaphors and symbols, and shaping it into a cultural landscape in the consumer city without erasing the historical memories attached to it.

Historical and cultural relics that carry cultural practices and values are

Registered urban unemployment rate Surveyed urban unemployment rate (estimated) Registered and surveyed (estimated) urban unemployment rates, 1978-2014, by http://www. mohrss.gov.cn/

31

protected and preserved. Museums offer more than just a collection and exhibition of objects or a still cultural image that survives. As cultural institutions and public spaces, museums are not static, empty vessels,

but are constantly producing meaning. Modern museum exhibits claim to present exhibits in a parametric form, and this type of display is a product of modern rationality. There is no natural light in the museum area, the only beams of light are on the exhibits, and the viewer is left in the darkness, focusing his or her eyes on the exhibits and not looking away. In other words, the viewer's way of seeing is precisely calculated and organised. The authority of the museum and the layout and interpretation of its internal exhibitions determine the way in which the exhibits are ultimately perceived. The recoded history not only reinforces the legitimacy and authority of its own intellectual structure, but also makes certain elements of it invisible. The mechanical parts left over from the old factory on display at the Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Hall provide a model for an official narrative about the evolution of the Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory. It is true that the layout of the exhibition area and the explanatory texts on the panels lead visitors to various specific interpretations and understandings, opening some particular doorways to meaning but inevitably closing others as Stuart Hall observed (1997). For example, the old machines and slogans on display in Eastern Suburb Memory are likely to transport visitors to their imagined era of mass production, while inevitably ignoring the declines in history - such as the wave of layoffs at the end of the 1990s.

Old machines, by VCG.com

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2.2.1.4 The exhibition space experience The industrial landscape of Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park is broadly divided into two categories.

The first category is the restoration and recreation of scenes of life and production from the socialist industrial era. This exhibition park generally retains the exposed red brick appearance of the old factory buildings, road signs and artworks made from abandoned machine tools and used boilers can be seen everywhere in the factory, and slogans to stimulate production are vaguely visible in the old workshops.

Recreation of production scenes, by VCG.com

Pop- and steampunk-inspired postmodern art installations, by VCG.com

33

This seems to be an authentic preservation of the production and living spaces of the 1950s and 1960s, but once removed from the context of collective mass production and woven into the urban landscape and consumer advertising as mere retro elements, its original value may be lost (Bell, 1997). The visitor centre in the eastern suburbs has a restored scene of a worker's home, with household items in a style typical of the 1860s and 1870s. The style of the scenes in the room is juxtaposed with the style of the café in the factory, with the old living space highlighting the use value of objects, while the modern living space highlights the symbolic value and aesthetic style of objects.

Another category is the transformation of old factory spaces and machine parts into pop- and steampunk-inspired postmodern art installations. Needless to say, these pop culture and aesthetic paradigms that identify the middle class separate the cultural identities of those who

visit the site.

represented as a small individual in a period of historical transition.

Slogans from the era of collectivised mass production are preserved at the entrance to Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park. These slogans are not so much a remnant of collective memory as they are a re-writing of the memory of the eastern suburbs in a post-revolutionary context.

The smaller workshops have been transformed into musical instrument shops, bars, restaurants and cafes, the larger workshops into theatres, cinemas, performing arts centres and hotels, with an open-air stage in the wider central area, surrounded by disused chimneys, pipes and boilers.

Visitors are offered an aesthetic experience that can be categorised as retro-industrial or steampunk. The Furnace theatre is a post-modern art space transformed from the furnace of a tube production line and is notable for its two distinctive time tunnels on the ground floor, one in the name of memory, leading to the past, and one in the name of trendy, leading to the future.

If one considers the space of Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park as a text, one finds many conflicting images dividing the contemporary space. The juxtaposition of disused boilers and post-modern sculptures in the exhibition area is a subtle attempt to consume and transgress political taboos. Whereas the subject of the worker, as represented by the old propaganda painting Unity is Strength, is brought to the fore in the context of collective mass production and appears as a group solidarity, in many current images painted by modern artists the subject of the worker is overshadowed by the shadow of a giant machine. The former is presented as part of a collective production, while the latter is

Old propaganda painting, by VCG.com

34

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Exhibition space / Ramped room Exhibition space / Members area Exhibition space / Temporay Open terrace Office Open bridge Enclosed bridge Aluminium curtain Retained columns and beams

2

4 3 6 1

5

4

9 8

9

9

Isometric projection with roof removed, by WallaceLiu

35

7

2.2.2 Chongqing Industrial Museum This case study explores how a new spatial experience can be realised within the skeleton of the original ruins.

The Chongqing Industrial Museum, designed and built by WallaceLiu Architects, is based on the remaining skeleton of Chongqing Steel Works.

This 7,500 square metre museum is part of a regeneration programme for the old industrial estate, showcasing the strong steel culture embedded in the area and its illustrious industrial history (Chongqing Industrial Museum, 2021).

The new building is a light steel frame structure that allows for the possibility of placing new blocks between the concrete columns of the old factory building, and WallaceLiu Architects have broken the impression of the long and narrow spaces of the original factory building by using metal boxes that float between the old columns to create an open, complex and immersive spatial experience at ground level. The design allows visitors to not only stay in the exhibition environment of the historical line, but also to experience the original space of the old factory building and get up close to the old architectural elements. These suspended metal boxes are connected by bridges at different heights, so that visitors can get a closer look at the existing old beams, the old girders and the old rails carrying the truss cars on the girders as they move between the different boxes. As visitors cross the gallery bridge, they can temporarily remove themselves from the exhibition hall and look down on the hall and the surrounding historical structures, creating

Facade, by Etienne Clement

36

a visual and emotional connection with the real historical environment.

The sunken square in the middle of the hall is the foundation pit for the original plant cooling equipment. The short concrete columns arrayed in the pit are the foundations of equipment that was used earlier to support large industrial equipment. The new hall space, mainly used for temporary museum exhibitions, is an open space that encourages active public participation and creates a smooth and open flow of visitors. This also creates a comfortable transitional space grey space with little need for equipment for heating, cooling and ventilation (Xue et al., 2011). The presence of shaded and ventilated transitional spaces is very important in the design of public buildings in a geographical environment such as Chongqing, where winters are cold and summers are hot.

The facade of the building features a hanging curtain of perforated metal panels. The curtain's supporting light steel frame is attached to the original concrete structure of the old building and allows the concrete wind columns of the old building to be preserved. The clever structural relationship of the suspended aluminium curtain wall makes the curtain appear very thin and light, with the inner space hidden from view, and contrasts with the heaviness of the original concrete columns of the steelworks. The perforated curtain creates different shadows at different times of the day, reinforcing the interplay of old and new elements.

The curtain wraps around the exhibition space while creating a layer of transitional spaces that transitions from the interior to the exterior.

These transitional spaces create an open flowing museum entrance boundary and balance the relationship between the large scale facade and the human scale required for a public building. Sequences of enclosed, semi-open and open spaces are created to allow the building and place to interact effectively. Breaking with the general approach of traditional closed, large, heavy museum buildings, it allows the Chongqing Industrial Museum to truly host more public activities.

These cases in Chengdu and Chongqing achieve great commercial success after renovation yet are no less successful as a capitalist aggression (Zhu, 2010). Both buildings were born in the 1960s, and the memories of the communist mass production they experienced are difficult to reconstruct in the present. One can only find a fragment of life in the photographs and texts in the exhibition.

Hall, by Etienne Clement

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2.3 Neoliberal aggression: Beijing 798 art zone

Neoliberalism Neoliberalism is the main school of modern British political thought. It advocates the preservation of individual freedom, the mediation of social contradictions and the preservation of a free competitive capitalist system in a new historical period. It has thus become a resurgent form of economic liberalism that has played an increasingly important role in international economic policy since the 1970s. Neoliberalism refers to a political-economic philosophy that rejects state intervention in the domestic economy.

The emergence of art zones transformed by industrial heritage stems from the development and transformation of society. As an important carrier of the cultural industry, these industrial heritage areas have become an integral part of the cultural industry development process that cannot be ignored. However, the dev elopment of art districts in China has not been smooth, and they often fall into the chaos of "starting with art and ending with commerce".

This section takes Beijing's 798 Art Zone as the object of study. 798 Art Zone is both a witness to the industrial civilization and historical development of new China and a pioneer of Beijing's cultural industry.

Therefore, it is a complex of art, culture, politics, economy and social change. During the development of the 798 Art Zone, enterprises, the government, and the art world have been playing against each other, changing the functional direction of the district and making the positioning and development direction of the district complex and ambiguous. This study attempts to briefly explain the impact of Neoliberal aggression on the industrial heritage through the process of changes in the 798 Art Zone.

Beijing 798 art zone, by Edward Caruso

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2.3.1 Glorious history 1980s Factory relocated, large number of factory buildings for rent

1990s Sculpture classroom for students

2003 Most culturally iconic urban centers in the world

by Time magazine

2008 Beijing Olympic Games Pace Gallery Asian Branch

After 2008 Large number of galleries moving out

History of Beijing 798 art zone

39

Beijing 798 Art Zone is located in the Chaoyang District of Beijing, with a core area of about 300,000 square meters. In the 1950s, the government collected land for the construction of the state-run North China Radio Equipment Factory, or Factory 718. Since the 1980s, Factory 718 has been in a declining position in the wave of reform and opening up.

In order to promote its transformation and upgrading, the Beijing Municipal Government has integrated and reorganized the six units of the original factory into "Beijing Seven Star Huadian Technology Group Co. In line with this plan, the Seven Star Group adjusted some of its industries, moved out a large number of workers, and rented out the idle factory buildings at low rents for short periods.

What made the 798 area an art district was directly related to the transition of the relocation of China's Central Academy of Fine Arts in the 1990s. During this period, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the National Day, the sculpture department of the Academy received a government commission to begin producing commemorative sculptures.

The then deputy head of the sculpture department, had limited space in his existing studio, forcing him to begin looking for a larger space around the school. Out of chance, he saw a lot of unused storage space at the 718 Union Factory, which was spacious and inexpensive to rent. The sculpture department rented a 3,000-square-meter warehouse for a low rent of 30 cents per square meter per day as a sculpture workshop, and for nearly four years, from 1995 to 1998, all of the sculpture department's faculty students worked in it (Shu, 2004). No one thought this simple act

would create a precedent for the clustering of artists' studios in 798.

In 2003, the 798 Art Zone hosted a number of major art exhibitions, each attracting thousands of visitors, a "major event" like no other in Chinese contemporary art activity. That same year, the 798 Art Zone was named one of the most culturally iconic urban centers in the world by Time magazine. Since then, the 798 Art Zone's reputation for pioneering art has become widely known. By 2004, in just a few years, the number of art and commercial establishments had soared to nearly 100, and the community of artists in 798 grew like a snowball. The unique artistic charm also attracted many cultural institutions such as bookstores, art websites and design companies; in addition, restaurants and shops initially served as supporting facilities for artists and art district staff, adding to the living atmosphere of the entire art district.

The further transformation of the 798 Art Zone began with the artists. in the period before 2008, the development of China's contemporary art market continued to heat up, with news of high art sales. Sales in the gallery industry tended to improve, there was ample money to hold exhibitions and pay rent, and artists began to escape poverty and even move into the wealthy class. It is said that before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the highest rent in the 798 Art Zone reached 7 to 8 yuan per square meter per day, a rent increase of more than ten times in just a few years. On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, the internationally renowned Pace Gallery of New York chose to open its only branch in Asia in the 798 Art Zone, an event that brought the number of international institutions in the district to a peak and greatly raised the

Plan of Beijing 798 art zone, by Sasaki

40

overall artistic standard of the district. Ignoring the high rents, many galleries still flocked to 798 Art Zone, and according to statistics, the number of galleries in 2008 was around 150, an increase of nearly half again compared to the previous year. A globally renowned art district encompassing institutions from many countries and regions around the world, with an endless array of artists' studios, galleries, design firms, restaurants and shops.

4% 22%

Artist's Studio 30%

Gallery Other cultural institutions

10%

Restaurants Shops 34%

Percentage of institutional occupancy in 798 Art Zone 2013, by Haipeng Chi

41

However, just as people were reveling in the positive outlook of 798, a crisis hit, and after 2008, the development of galleries entered a period of stagnation, with business declining significantly and many galleries cutting back on exhibitions and expenses. Many galleries from China Taiwan and Korea withdrew from 798, and some galleries began to seek cheaper spaces around 798. According to the data, the number of galleries in 798 decreased rather than increased from 2009 to 2010. In the following years, a large number of galleries moved out every year, while a number of galleries came in, and the number of galleries maintained a balance between one in and one out. But the number of design, architecture, media and other creative design institutions is increasing year by year. They aim at commercial profits and are more able to afford high rents in the 798 Art Zone, so it is easier for them to gain a firm foothold. Finally, the millions of people who visit 798 every year have become the biggest attraction for tourism service organizations to move in. Although such organizations need to bear the highest rent in the park, they cannot stop the growth momentum of restaurants and shops, from a few exhibitions at the beginning to hundreds, and there are already very many of these types of organizations. Restaurants, cafes, teahouses and small and medium-sized jewelry and clothing shops can be found everywhere in the art zone, and very galleries have also started to open up spaces to run their own shops and catering.

2.3.2 The power struggle in the Arts Zone The departure of artists and the weakening of the power of art institutions has undoubtedly left a void for commerce to encroach upon. For a long time, the commercialization of the art district has been controversial, and the question of whether to have art or commerce has been debated endlessly. In fact, art and commerce can coexist, but in the development of the 798 Art Zone, art and commerce have unexpectedly formed a confrontational situation. In the current situation, it is clear that the commercial factor has prevailed, and there is nothing to question the fashionable and commercial direction of 798 (Kong, 2009).

In the early stages of the district's development, the first artists and galleries to move in wanted to protect the district from demolition, so they made full use of their cultural capital, including organizing a series of art events and exhibitions, in an effort to give 798 the cultural significance of "contemporary art" as a symbolic value, greatly enhancing its popularity and international influence. Although in the short term the economic benefits of 798 are not as great as those of real estate development, it coincides with Beijing's positioning as a national political and cultural center, and with the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, the government urgently needs an art district like 798 to convey Beijing's "cultural calling card" to the world. Therefore, the government slightly favored the art world's side in the early game, and the 798 Art Zone was retained due to the government's legalization.

As a result of the activism of the artists and art institutions in 798 and the

Beijing 798 art zone, by Edward Caruso

42

government's attitude, the Seven Stars Group had to change its attitude towards the art district, moving from complete negativity to support for the construction of the art district. This "catch and release" approach soon led artists and art institutions into a "misunderstanding" in which they thought that the Seven Stars Group had finally come to terms with the art world. However, the truth behind the fact is that the art district has become a "pawn" for the Seven Stars Group to seek economic benefits. After all, the Seven Stars Group is a business, and businesses always aim to maximize profits. In practice, the Seven Stars Group uses its economic power to control the art district by controlling contracts, increasing rents, evicting artists, and setting up its own cultural and artistic institutions. In this process, since artists and art institutions have more cultural capital, while the Seven Stars Group has more economic capital, both sides are evenly matched in the power struggle, and it is difficult to completely defeat the other side. Both sides of the game have their own gains and losses: while the Seven Stars Group has gained huge economic benefits, it has been saddled with the scorn of public opinion; while the art world has been preserved, artists have been lost and their core artistic values have been eroded by commercialization (Chi, 2014).

Beijing 798 art zone, by Edward Caruso

43

From the perspective of the overall development of art districts, the formation of art districts is a progressive trend that drives regional economic development, as it can give a region symbolic value and eventually produce economic benefits; however, from the current situation of art districts, the original function of art districts is gradually lost in the process of development, and the economic power field, as a strong party, controls the cultural capital of art districts, constantly

capturing the symbolic production of art fields The economic power field, as a strong party, controls the cultural capital of the art district, constantly capturing the symbolic value produced by the art district, while the economic benefits are not effectively fed back to the art district, so that the symbolic value of the art district is not effectively regenerated in the process of continuous weakening; the intervention of the political power field, although it can play a certain role of "balancing" power in the one-way evolution of the art district, however, the government's demand is to drive the regional economy through the cultural industry. However, the government's demand is to drive the regional economy through the cultural industry, and its aim is to turn culture into productive development, and in fact to promote the transformation of cultural capital into economic capital.

If the development of the art district has been in this one-way evolutionary state, then economic capital in the process of continuous consumption of cultural capital, will not effectively promote the accumulation or reproduction of culture, so that the core function and symbolic value of the art district gradually weakened and lost, and eventually deprived by economic capital reduced to the subordination of commerce. Like a car with a full tank of gas, the trend of progress will eventually stop as it continues to run out of gas without being replenished. This is the bottleneck facing the survival and development of art districts.

Beijing 798 art zone, by Edward Caruso

44

Chapter 3 The Forgotten ruins

Packard Plant in 2018, by Matthew Christopher

45

3.1 The end of Factory 420

By the 1950s, Chengdu began to develop its industry for two major reasons: firstly, technical assistance from the Soviet Union. The second reason was the implementation of China's first five-year plan. At this time new factories were built in Chengdu, such as the electronic tube factory. At the same time, many factories from the coast and the northeast moved to Chengdu, for example the 420 factory. All of them were located far from the city centre, outside the first ring road.

Factory 420 in 2001, by Google Earth

In 1958, the 111 factory in Shenyang was moved to Chengdu, located next to what is the second ring road now. At that time the second ring road was farmland. About 20,000 workers and 80,000 their family members moved to Chengdu by train with the 111 factory move. From the picture, it could be said that most factories were just like A city (Huang and Li, 2006).

The 420 factory was built in just 100 days and immediately 20,000 workers started production. Meanwhile, many support facilities, infrastructures and workers' houses were built around the factory.

The workers and their families lived in this small city. There are

Several preserved factory buildings in 2021, by Google Earth

46

kindergartens, schools and even a university for the workers studying

Twenty Four Citiy The story of three generations and the real-life experiences of five narrators is the history of a state-run factory that has been broken.Their destiny unfolds in this factory where aircraft are made.In 2008, the factory was relocated to a new industrial park and the land in the city centre was purchased by a real estate company, which developed as a residential complex called "Twenty Four Citiy".

new Technology and knowledge. There are also some clubs. The workers go to the clubs to dance and relax after work. Of course, there was also a market. They can buy all kinds of food there.

The dense vegetation of the old factory 420, together with the historic red brick buildings, creates a very good atmosphere in the area, and the buildings have a strong industrial and historical feel.

However, the development of old industrial sites into housing estates is a very common phenomenon in Chinese cities. Factory 420 sold most of its buildings to property developers around 2000. It has now been developed as a residential complex under the name 'Twenty Four City'.

A film with the same title as the property was also released in 2008. In the planning process, a small part of the factory buildings were preserved by the developer, and apart from the concentrated areas, only the original road network and tall trees have been preserved in the rest of the site, while most of the old industrial buildings have not been preserved.

The buildings that have been preserved are now in a state of disrepair and there are no plans to develop them. The old buildings are slowly becoming an adventure for children in the neighbourhood.

Poster for the film - Twenty Four Citiy

47

Saw-tooth skylight buildings

Current status of Factory 420

Entrance

Street Haircut

Facade of the original building

Shuanglin Primary School

Tailor's shop

Fruit stall

48

Adventure in abandoned Steel Mill, by Aoshuang

49

3.2 Urban Exploration: Measure the city by ourselves

These unmanaged factory buildings left behind by the rapid transformation of industrialised cities have become an adventure destination for some. These people believe that urban exploration is still a bridge between the living past on one side and the more discreet urban construction of the future on the other. They also document the more realistic ruins through photographs videos and texts.

Unlike what is commonly referred to as nature exploration, urban explorers target buildings in mysterious corners of the city, such as underground tunnels, sewer pipes, bomb shelters, abandoned factories above ground, hospitals, churches, prisons, bunkers, mine shafts, ships, nuclear missile silos or forts left over from war. Once safely inside, explorers can spend hours simply looking around, true urban explorers following the ethic of 'take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints'.

The history of urban exploration goes back hundreds of years, with the Frenchman Philibert Aspairt already exploring the catacombs of Paris by candlelight in 1793, only to have his bones discovered 11 years later. Walt

New commuter light rail system in Detroit, by GETTY IMAGES

50

Whitman, an American poet and another early urban explorer, described the abandoned Atlantic Avenue Tunnel in Brooklyn as "a passage with the solemnity and darkness of hell". In 1996 urban adventure legend Ninjalicious ( Jeff Chapman) contributed to Infiltration magazine, which coined the official name of urban adventure (Chapman, 2005).

Since the 1990s, with the development of the internet, urban adventure has flourished and has been divided into different categories. Examples include: building exploration, catacomb exploration, sewer exploration and sky walks. European urban explorers like to look at post-war bunkers and abandoned castles. In the United States, urban exploration is relatively well established, with the publication of many books and magazines devoted to urban exploration activities. From Russia to Australia, from Canada to Chile, urban exploration is becoming a global phenomenon with its own fans, rules, culture, journals, films and clubs (Nestor, 2007).

Some people explore for simple aesthetic reasons, as they find these crumbling buildings abandoned by the times to be perfect works of art. Others are motivated by a degree of excitement and the thrill of adventure that comes from exploring off-limits areas or avoiding the law to reach places that most people cannot find. Others have a purely historical interest in particular buildings or groups of buildings.

Increasingly, industrial archaeologists, architects and urban planners are also joining in the urban adventure. Their involvement is leading to a future of more careful urban construction and a better environment for human habitation.

Adventure in abandoned Steel Mill, by Aoshuang

51

The booming auto industry brought prosperity to cities like Detroit in

Because of unwritten rules, we do not know the exact location of this

the United States, but it did not escape the fate of industrial cities, and with the loss of population due to race riots, Detroit ceased to thrive, but the factories, skyscrapers, giant department stores and luxury hotels that were built during the boom still stand in the city (McQuarrie, 2017). These buildings have become an adventure destination for some. Explorers have documented these more authentic ruins through photographs, videos and texts. These people argue that urban exploration remains a bridge between a living past on one side and the more cautious construction of future cities on the other. Of course, the post-industrial city of Chengdu has inevitably become a playground for urban explorers.

exploration in Chengdu. But this account gives a glimpse into how a ruin tells the story of Chengdu's red, machine-rattling days.

Perhaps sometimes industrial ruins make better industrial museums.

The past lives of these industrial ruins can reflect the patterns and directions of the city's development, and even represent the collective subconscious of an entire era. By focusing on the causes behind the ruins, which are very much like a doomsday scenario, one can reflect on the negative effects of environmental pollution, ecological destruction, energy abuse, animal hunting, war and so on, and thereby gain a clearer understanding of the current state of human existence.

"Walking inside the huge complex, stroking its stagnant heart, its hardened veins and every inch of its mottled skin, it is only then that she is performing a grand narrative for us in its dilapidated state, operating its young and vigorous life in those glorious past, housing and nurturing the hundreds of people who passed back and forth in their steel bodies, lighting the coal stoves, lighting the lights, lighting the ample and meagre life of the planned economy. It lit up the light, the ample and thin life of the planned economy. Even though the planned economy is a thing of the past, and this huge building, which once worked day and night, is now in its old age and gradually forgotten, it still stands in a huge frame in the northeastern corner of the city, silently recounting its former glory."

(Chengdu Ruin Exploration Abandoned Steel Mill, 2019) 52

Conclusion

53

From the disappearance of the Shu Palace to the industrialisation of Chengdu, this dissertation briefly describes the three endings or states of industrial heritage as ruins - vanishing, rebirth and forgotten.

The first is the demolition and destruction of some industrial ruins, even those of great historical value, in the flood of history. Secondly, through a brief analysis of successful examples of industrial heritage renovation in the West and China, this paper also seeks to answer the question of how history and the value of ruins can be perpetuated or reproduced through renovation. Finally, there is the forgotten state of ruins, which is often ignored. Some people can still find many pieces of history or new spatial experiences in forgotten ruins, without necessarily transforming them to increase their value or burying them in the earth.

While there is no space to discuss how to evaluate the various values of the ruins themselves, which is a complex topic, this paper hopes to provide a perspective on this often neglected urban space, the ruins, so that people may not focus on the fate of the ruins but on the history and space they possess.

54

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56

Credits Cover painting, by Wennan Fan

i

Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory

15

Sichuan basin (Chengdu Plain), by Jianan

3

View of the redeveloped Duisburg Inner Harbour in 2010, by IndianSummer

17

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Ruhr, by Thoms Wolf

18

Planning area of IBA Emscher Park, by IBA Ruhr area Map

19 19

Ruhr University, by WIKI

20

IBA official website

21

Third Front Region and Geography Third Front Region, by Yang Yang

22

A map of Chengdu from 1911, with the Shu Palace clearly visible in the centre, from Sichuan Museum 4 The Centre of Chengdu, drawn by Author Restored model of the Shu Palace, by Sichuan Museum

5 5

The Chengdu Examination Hall in the Qing Dynasty in 1950s The viewing platform on the old city gate in 1957

6 6

Sichuan Science and Technology Museum in 1969 Sichuan Science and Technology Museum, by CDSTM.com

7 7

Chongqing Steel Works (Now is Chongqing Industrial Museum), by WallaceLiu

23

Central axis, Tianfu Square and Boundary of the Shu Palace, drawn by Author The only remaining old city wall in Chengdu, photo by Author

8 8

Eastern Suburb Memory by Google Earth in 2019, drawn by Author

24

The new city centre and Tianfu Square, photo by VCG.com and drawn by Author

9

Poster: Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

25

10

Factory Buildings, by Muda You Railway, by Muda You Interior of the building, by Muda You Chimneys and tanks, by Muda You

26 26 26 26

Plan of Chengdu Eastern Suburb Memory Park, drawn by Author Hot Pot Restaurant (Production Hall) in 2017, by DZDP.com

27 27

Table 1: Functional transformation of the architectural space of Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park, drawn by Author

28

Bird's eye view of Chengdu Eastern Suburb Memory Exhibition Park, by VCG.com

29

South Gate in 2019, by VCG.com

30

Factories in the 1950s, drawn by Author

Restructuring of the Eastern Suburbs Industrial Estate Policy, by official website of the Chengdu Government 11 Factories in 2021, drawn by Author 11 Successful transformation of Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory is now a large exhibition park, by VCG.com 12 Chengdu State-owned Hongguang Electronic Tube Factory in 2003, drawn by Author

13

Chengdu Shuijingfang Museum Chengdu Locomotive and Rolling Stock Factory Building

14 14

Chengdu Tool and Cutting Tool Factory

15

57

Registered and surveyed (estimated) urban unemployment rates, 1978-2014,by http://www. mohrss.gov.cn/ 31

Saw-tooth skylight buildings

47

Entrance, photo by Author Street Haircut, photo by Author Shuanglin Primary School, photo by Author Facade of the original building, photo by Author Tailor's shop, photo by Author Fruit stall, photo by Author

48 48 48 48 48 48

Adventure in abandoned Steel Mill, by Aoshuang

49 50 51

Old machines, by VCG.com

32

Recreation of production scenes, by VCG.com Pop- and steampunk-inspired postmodern art installations, by VCG.com

33 33

Old propaganda painting, by VCG.com

34

Isometric projection with roof removed, by WallaceLiu

35

Facade, by Etienne Clement

36

New commuter light rail system in Detroit, by GETTY IMAGES Adventure in abandoned Steel Mill, by Aoshuang

Hall, by Etienne Clement

37

Back cover painting, by Wennan Fan

Beijing 798 art zone, by Edward Caruso

38

History of Beijing 798 art zone, drawn by Author

39

Plan of Beijing 798 art zone, by Sasaki

40

Percentage of institutional occupancy in 798 Art Zone 2013, by Haipeng Chi

41

Beijing 798 art zone, by Edward Caruso

42

Beijing 798 art zone, by Edward Caruso

43

Beijing 798 art zone, by Edward Caruso

44

Packard Plant in 2018, by Matthew Christopher

45

Factory 420 in 2001, by Google Earth Several preserved factory buildings in 2021, by Google Earth

46 46

Poster for the film - Twenty Four Citiy

47

58

Back cover painting, by Wennan Fan