In recent years, an industrial heritage of more than half a century in Suzhou (District) city, Jiuquan City, Gansu Province, has formed a new experience on the Silk Road Tourism Ring Line integrating cultural and creative exhibition, scientific and technological experience, leisure and entertainment, tourism research, education and sports after several years of continuous implementation of a series of old plant transformation, which is rejuvenated with the “vitality” of the past.
Jiuquan, located at the intersection of Gansu, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Mongolia, is one of the four counties in Hexi in the Han Dynasty. It has been a traffic fortress from the Central Plains to the western regions and an important town on the Silk Road since ancient times. This city with a history of more than 2100 years is not only famous at home and abroad for the “Dunhuang Grottoes”, but also an important old industrial base in the West.
Like other old industrial bases in China, seeking transformation and development is also an important exploration way for local officials to “break the situation”. Gansu Jiuquan boiler factory, which had a “highlight moment” in the 20th century, integrated the local cultural elements “repair the old as the old” on the basis of ensuring the original plant style of the old boiler factory. In the planning and design of the park, the appearance style of the original buildings was maintained to the greatest extent, so that the new buildings were fully integrated into the overall atmosphere of the park and the overall style of the creative park was integrated.
“At the end of the 20th century, Gansu Jiuquan boiler factory made indelible and outstanding contributions to the development of Jiuquan and even the surrounding industries. Therefore, it decided to take the construction time of the boiler factory as the code name and name the park as the 1969 culture and Art Expo Park.” In 1969, Wang Wenjuan, a staff member of the cultural and art creative park, said that the local government combines industrial heritage with creative culture, which not only retains the “historical memory” of industrial heritage, but also pays attention to the integration and innovation of Silk Road culture.
“If tourists don’t come to Su, there’s nowhere to go.” In recent years, Suzhou, the seat of Jiuquan municipal government, which is adjacent to the “popular punch in places” of the Silk Road, such as Zhangye, Dunhuang and Jiayuguan, is breaking the situation. The local government is committed to promoting innovation in culture and tourism and relieving common omissions during the Silk Road Tour. Compared with the bustle of the tourism market in some nearby areas, it appears to be lack of color in the impression of many tourists, so it is often “passed around the city”.
Wang Wenjuan said that as an important carrier of cultural and tourism development in the new era of Suzhou District, the 1969 culture and art creative park has implemented infrastructure construction, reinforcement, repair and quality upgrading of 12 old factories in recent years, and is committed to building a new experience destination of Silk Road Tourism integrating artistic creativity, characteristic culture, sports fitness, education and training, leisure and entertainment. Compared with the traditional natural scenery and cultural heritage, there will be more ancient and modern fashion elements.
It is reported that the predecessor of the 1969 culture and Art Expo Park is Jiuquan old boiler factory. In April 1969, “Lanzhou Limin ironware cooperative” moved to Jiuquan, merged with Jiuquan tractor station, and changed its name to “Jiuquan agricultural machinery repair and manufacturing factory”. In 1986, it was renamed “Jiuquan agricultural machinery factory”. In the early stage of its establishment, it mainly repaired tractors and also built old plowshares, mountain plows, civil kitchen knives, feed crushers, tractor accessories, etc.
Relying on the advanced process equipment, perfect testing means and strong technical force at that time, the steam and water dual-purpose boilers produced by Jiuquan boiler factory won the “Gansu energy-saving equipment manufacturing Award”, which belonged to the advanced level in the 1990s; The oil-fired and gas-fired boilers produced at that time belonged to the cross century advanced level with a thermal efficiency of up to 90%.
When the prosperity of the old industrial era ended, the new cultural tourism industry became the first shortcut for transformation and development. The park transformed some steel structure parts mainly used to produce boilers at that time into a small theater that can accommodate about 300 people by making full use of its dome structure. Since its operation in October last year, many classic Qin Opera plays have been put on the stage in the form of benefiting the people.
In the catering area of the creative park, the mottled large font of “canteen” is full of a strong sense of the times and the color of the times. Diners can “travel through time and space” to find the feeling of the factory canteen in the 1990s. During this period, the decoration elements are also full of strong red brick industrial style, and the regional cuisine characterized by baking is coveted. A dilapidated chimney is specially reserved here, as if to tell every tourist its past in its prime.
Wang Wenjuan said that at present, the park is dominated by local and surrounding tourists. In the future, when the Aerospace Hi-Tech Holding Group Co.Ltd(000901) experience Pavilion is completed, it will face the passenger flow on the silk road which is popular year by year. In addition to experiencing the rich cultural experience of the vicissitudes of the Silk Road, there are many little-known “black technologies” to be shared with tourists.
China’s one belt, one road, will be built in the Suzhou district government work report, 2021, Wang Yonghong, Suzhou district director, said. In the future, he will dig into the spirit of China’s space and implement the aerospace Expo project. He will strive to integrate the main scenic spots into the Hexi Corridor tourist belt and the “one belt” economic belt by relying on the Gansu Gansu Qingdao Grand Ring Road and the Dunhuang cultural tourism economic circle in 2026. Six high-quality tourist routes will be cultivated in conjunction with the surrounding scenic spots, so as to completely realize the transformation from tourist transit to tourist destination, and strive to build Suzhou into a regional tourism center.
