Project Background

In 2013,the International Research Center for the Chinese Heritage Conservation of Tianjin University successfully applied to undertake the research project“Systematic Research on the Protection of Urban Industrial Heritage in Modern China,”thus earning the official designation of a Major Project by the National Social Science Fund.^[3]It is a systematic research study of Chinese industrial heritage sites on a national scale,completed in 2018.

Since China started its historic economic reforms in 1978,Chinese industry has entered a period of high-speed development.As such,since the mid-1980s,worldwide trends in industrial restructuring have influenced some of China's more advanced cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.The industrial structure of these cities has been rapidly transformed from traditional industries to newly developed industries and service industry.Along with the expansion of these cities,industrial estates that were once on the outskirts of these cities have now been absorbed by central urban districts.Moreover,since the 1980s,the Chinese method for the selling and transferring of land use rights has based some of its features on the Hong Kong Land Grant System.^[4]Therefore,central city areas,as important propellers of the urban economy,have become key focus points.In contrast,the industrial estates in urban administrative centers have changed because of the continuous upgrade of industries,with former industrial areas becoming a source of contradictions and problems.The interaction between industrial restructuring and urban development has been attracting more and more attention.Because of“differential land benefit,”^[5]urban land renewal has been regarded as an effective approach by the local government to regional economic development.In the late 1990s,the reform of state-owned enterprises in China promoted the further upgrading of industrial estates in central urban areas.However,many industrial heritage sites that constitute potential physical resources were left idle or demolished.Since the 21st century,many second-tier Chinese cities have been involved in this process,which means that ever-larger numbers of industrial factories and heritage covering lands and fields will be included in this transformation.Consequently,many industrial heritage sites have disappeared during this rapid and uninterrupted process of urban regeneration.

The disappearance of heritage sites has stimulated much research on this matter.This can be traced back to research in the 1980s concerning Chinese modern industrial heritage.After the process of national reforms and openingup to the international sphere,cooperation between China and Japan with respect to the survey of Chinese modern architecture brought new opportunities for research on Chinese modern architecture.For example,the“Survey Report of Architecture in Dongjuzi Area,”which relates to the Westernization Movement analyzed in the“Overview of Tianjin Modern Architecture”(1989),includes existing conditions and the mapping of the architecture of the Tianjin East Machinery Bureau.Research into Chinese industrial heritage subsequently reached its peak in 2009.(Aoki Nobuo,Zhang Jiahao and Xu Subin,2016)(https://www.daowen.com)

Moreover,industrial heritage protection in China is improving in terms of adopted conservation systems.Industrial heritage is gradually finding its way into the national protected heritage list,more so since the publication of the 5th Batch of State-Protected Key Historical Sites.Moreover,industrial heritage was selected as the main theme of the International Day of Monuments and Sites in 2006^[6],and the first Industrial Heritage Protection Meeting was held in Wuxi,in which the Wuxi Proposal was drafted.In May 2006,the State Administration of Cultural Heritage promulgated its Notice on Strengthening Industrial Heritage Protection,which officially marked the beginning of industrial heritage research and protection.Since then,18 sites of industrial heritage have been identified among the 6th batch of State Cultural Relics Protection Units published by the State Council in 2006.A further 84 sites were identified in 2013 in the 7th batch,accounting for 2% of the 4 296 state-protected sites.According to Liu Boying,there are 106 industrial heritage sites in 762 National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units in 2019 in the 8th batch.Industrial heritage increased.However,because of ambiguities in the scoping and definition of industrial heritage,there are differences in how different professionals interpret these statistics.Despite this problem,it is clear that in comparison with other kinds of heritage,industrial heritage deserves greater attention in research and protection efforts.

In recent years,this issue has attracted growing attention from different academic societies.To date,the most relevant events have been the First Chinese Academic Forum of Industrial Heritage and the conference of the Industrial Architecture Heritage Academic Committee(IAHAC)of the Architectural Society of China.During this conference,IAHAC raised the“Beijing Proposal”concerning saving Chinese industrial heritage.Since then,this conference has been held in different Chinese cities,with proceedings published every year.In 2014,the Department of Industrial Heritage was established,attached to the Historical and Cultural City Committee of the Chinese Society for Urban Studies,as well as the Industrial Heritage Committee of the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics.Moreover,the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology founded the Industrial Culture Development Center.Hence,the establishment and work of these academic committees and organizations are promoting industrial heritage research to a new stage of interdisciplinary development.