CPPCC member seeks protection for Shougang site

CPPCC member seeks protection for Shougang site

• Source: Global Times
• [09:04 March 08 2011]
• Comments

Water from Qunming Lake was used to cool steel during Shougang's active days in Shijingshan, seen here the day it closed on January 13. Photo: IC

By Yang Jie

The old site of the Shougang steel mill in western Beijing, which closed in January, should be listed as an industrial heritage site under State protection, the director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has proposed.

Shan Jixiang, who is also a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) member, submitted a proposal during the ongoing two sessions suggesting that protection plans for Shougang be worked out and its core values defined as soon as possible, before bringing its most important relics under State-level protection, the Beijing News reported.

Founded in 1919, the 91-year-old Shougang ceased operations at its Shijingshan site on January 13 and relocated to Caofeidian, Hebei Province, 220 kilometers east of Beijing.

"How to keep the 'industrial memory' of Beijing in the 20th century is what has to be faced and solved," the Beijing News quoted Shan as saying.

"[The mill] is very large, and the detailed plan is still being researched as to which parts should be brought under State-level protection and how to scientifically make use of the space," Kong Fanzhi, director of the Beijing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, told the Global Times Monday.

Shougang Group said that they are not planning to profit by auctioning the land, but are trying to "seek sustainable development following the overall city development plan," according to the report.

According to Shan, protection of different parts of the site should vary. He suggested that the cultural relics in the northern section be wholly protected and opened to the public; the middle part where early operations took place could be developed into an industrial heritage park and the relatively modern workshops in the south could become a museum, gallery or other cultural agencies.

As a testament to China's modern industrial development, Shougang could play an exemplary role in the protection of industrial heritage sites, many of which have disappeared due to poor preservation, said Liu Zheng from the Beijing Association of Cultural Relics Protection.

"We are still at the starting stage of industrial sites protection, especially for those established after the liberation of China," said Liu, who noted that modest utilization of the original Shougang site for cultural purposes will also boost area economic growth.