The Department of Research and Publicity of China Association for Science and Technology recently released its first batch of National Industrial Heritages, Shanghai Observer reported Sunday.
The list includes government-run enterprises established during the Westernization Movement (1861-95), as well as 156 key construction projects after the founding of the People's Republic of China, covering a variety of sectors including maritime, military and railway, which are of representative and outstanding values.
Authorities pointed out that industrial heritage is an important carrier of human civilization and historical development, which has recorded important information on the various stages of China's industrial development and also witnessed the evolution of the country and its many industries.
Its great historical cultural value, knowledge value, scientific value, economic value and artistic value have drawn world-wide attention. On the list, Shanghai has six industrial heritages. They are as follows.
General Bureau of Machine Manufacture of Jiangnan
The bureau, founded at 1865, is comprised of a language school, a translation house and a technical school along with manufacturing works. It witnessed the evolution of modern China's ship-building industry. The translation house cultivated first-rate scientists and engineering experts including Xu Shou, Hua Hengfang, Xu Jianyin. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the bureau produced the first 10,000-ton hydraulic press, the first submarine and the first frigate. All have made great contributions to national industrial development.
Waibaidu Bridge
This bridge was China's first all-steel bridge and is the country's only surviving example of a camelback truss bridge. It is one of Shanghai's most recognizable symbols of modernization and industrialization. Its rich history and distinguished design have earned itself worldwide fame and is regarded as a city landmark.
Fufeng Flour Factory
This was the first domestic national machine flour factory, founded in 1898. The taste of the flour they produced was more suitable for Chinese palates than Western varieties, and was of higher quality yet more affordable price.
Fuxin Flour Factory
The mill was founded in 1926 and became the largest joint factory among domestic flour industries in the 1930s. The construction of the building became known as the "specimen of the origin and development of Shanghai national industry."
Yangshupu Waterworks
Built in 1881, the waterworks was the first of its kind in China and provided running water for the first time to many city residents. It was also the largest in the Far East in the 1930s. The site is of great importance owing to the effect it had on the early modern industries of China, with various factories being built around the waterworks providing electricity, gas, vehicles and textiles.
Shanghai Eastern Sewage Treatment Plant
The plant, still in operation today, was the first sewage treatment plant in China and the earliest secondary sewage treatment plant in all of Asia. Founded in 1923, it is now known as the "living museum of wastewater purification."
