What was once an industrial hub that was “off limits to the idler” has now become a highly sought-after new cultural and tourism landmark. In recent years, "industrial tourism" has continued to become popular. From automobile intelligent manufacturing to shipbuilding heavy industry, from aerospace to clean energy, a number of major countries' important equipment have opened their doors, allowing the public to have a close look at China's industrial hard power. Breaking out of the traditional sightseeing model, "industrial tourism" promotes in-depth changes in the cultural tourism industry, making travel more than just sightseeing and leisure, but also an immersive classroom for understanding the power of scientific and technological innovation, paying tribute to the spirit of craftsmanship, and deepening the feelings of family and country. Recently, our reporters went to three industrial landmarks for on-site interviews to decode the new momentum of industrial integration through the hot new trend of industrial culture and tourism.
——Editor
China FAW——
From “many firsts” to smart manufacturing
Reporter Liu Yiqing
On the weekend, the autumn air was crisp and clear. In front of the No. 1 FAW plant on Dongfeng Street, Changchun City, Jilin Province, people queuing under the plaque of the China FAW Museum turned a corner. Looking closely at the team, there are middle-aged people hanging cameras and young parents holding their children. "Children like cars, and there are many car toys at home." Liu Na, a citizen from Beijing, told reporters with a smile, "Changchun has a profound automobile culture. I took my children here to take a look during the holidays."
On June 23, eight departments including the Ministry of Commerce announced pilot cities for automobile circulation and consumption reform, including Changchun City. The key reform and innovation direction is automobile culture. On July 21, the China FAW Museum, jointly built by Changying Group, Changchun Cultural Tourism Group and China FAW, officially opened.
Car culture, what do you want to see? While talking, the door of the China FAW Museum opened, and the clear red brick walls, old-fashioned steel suspension beams, and old production slogans were kept intact. The museum was renovated from the tool factory of the First Automobile Manufacturing Plant. The factory itself is an industrial heritage and was listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit in 2013. The construction team "restored the old as before", not only retaining old objects such as the old quenching furnace and the Hongqi assembly table, but also consulting retired FAW employees to restore many scenes such as the tool workshop, central design office, and employee night school.
Pointing to the overall layout of the factory in the early stages of construction, the commentator began to introduce: In 1953, FAW laid the foundation, and 28 provinces mobilized manpower and materials to help; in the summer of 1954, there were 44 heavy rains in a row, and the builders braved the rain to construct, and the construction period was not delayed for a day...
Walking along the exhibition hall, nearly 150 models of different eras are lined up. The first Dongfeng sedan in New China, the Hongqi CA770 classic bulletproof car, the "Tian Nian No. 1" flying car... Following the crowd, Liu Na stopped in front of a dark green truck. The headlights were polished, and the nameplate on the front of the car read: In July 1956, the first Jiefang CA10 truck rolled off the production line, and the history of New China's inability to manufacture cars ended. "Not only did I see the history of the automobile industry, but I also saw that behind the achievements was the hard work and hard work of the workers." Liu Na sighed with emotion.
"We have collected many 'firsts' in the history of New China's automobile industry, such as the first car, the first sedan, and the first limousine in New China. We hope to tell the story of Changchun's automobile industry as systematically and completely as possible through one museum," said Pan Cheng, a staff member of the China FAW Museum preparatory team.
"Looking at the road ahead, let's go to the modern automobile production area." After leaving the museum, Liu Na took her family along the "Changchun Automobile Industry Cultural Tourism" special line to the prosperous factory area of Hongqi Manufacturing Center.
In the welding workshop, more than 700 robotic arms rise and fall simultaneously, and the welding flowers flash. The robotic arm completes welding and other tasks accurately and efficiently. Now, a Hongqi car rolls off the production line here in less than a minute.
In July 2024, Changchun City will open an automobile industry tour route, starting from FAW Gate 1 and connecting Hongqi Factory, FAW Technology Innovation Base, Qixin Power Factory, Audi FAW New Energy Factory and other points, covering the entire chain of automobile history, cultural display and intelligent manufacturing. In two years, nearly 400,000 tourists followed this route and entered the automobile factory.
This year, new content has been added to the line: the research course "1953: National Expectation and FAW Answer Sheet" moved the classroom into the factory area, and the mobile immersive bus drama "Steel Torrent in the Wasteland" performed the history of the automobile industry around you. Transforming industrial resources into cultural tourism resources, Changchun has actively cultivated new scenarios, new formats, and new models of automobile consumption in recent years. It has enriched the tourism industry by holding international auto expos, developing automobile cultural tourism routes, holding the Changchun Automobile Rally, and launching automobile-themed fashionable cultural creations.
Industrial tourism is also driving industrial development. The front-line production scenes allow visitors to better understand the brand. In 2025, the output value of Changchun's automobile industry will exceed 404 billion yuan, and the "Changchun Automobile Cluster" has been shortlisted for the national advanced manufacturing cluster.
Jiangnan Shipbuilding Industry Tourism Base——
From "no entry for free" to a popular "check-in place"
Our reporter Cao Lingjuan
"Would you like to see the place where the Fujian ship set sail?" This hard-core invitation from Jiangnan Shipbuilding is hard not to be tempted.
Drive northeast from the center of Shanghai, pass through the long river-crossing tunnel, and arrive at Changxing Island. In the open area of the river, giant gantry cranes and spectacular docks are clearly visible. This is the Jiangnan Shipbuilding Industry and Tourism Base in Shanghai.
The predecessor of Jiangnan Shipbuilding was the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Administration established in 1865, which pioneered China's modern national industry.
"The important weapons of a great power have the most intuitive expression here. This unique charm has attracted more and more tourists." Jiang Han, director of the marketing operation department of Shanghai CSSC Culture Media Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Jiangnan Shipbuilding, said that since Jiangnan Shipbuilding officially launched industrial tourism in 2019, the number of visitors received by the base has been rising. So far, it has received more than 330,000 tourists. In 2022, Jiangnan Shipbuilding Industrial Tourism Base will be selected as a national industrial tourism demonstration base.
China's first propeller-driven ship "Caojiang" was born here, and the first domestically produced catapult aircraft carrier Fujian was unmoored and set sail from here... Entering the Jiangnan Shipbuilding Exhibition Hall, students from Shanghai Shinan Middle School were standing under the photo wall, listening to the ups and downs of Jiangnan Shipbuilding. When the laser pointer in the instructor's hand points to a photo, the corresponding ship information will be enlarged and displayed on the electronic screen. In the lecture hall, a popular science video told the students about the process from cutting a steel plate to closing a 10,000-ton giant ship.
From being "no entry for idlers" to becoming a hotspot for industrial tourism, as a key national military industrial enterprise, Jiangnan Shipbuilding does not simply open its doors, but carefully polishes industrial tourism like shipbuilding, opening up "regionally and in stages" within the safety red line, providing real and tangible patriotism education.
"Its existence itself is a wordless epic, telling how a nation reorganized its military uniforms after a hundred years of vicissitudes, and used technology and will to forge a strong shield to protect peace." Zhang Tingzhen, a student from Shinan Middle School, said proudly after studying at the Jiangnan Shipbuilding Industry Tourism Base.
Take a bus to the dock production site. The grand dock is surrounded by several giant ships under construction. Large container ships and liquefied natural gas carriers being commissioned and outfitted in the dock are moving slowly. The operation site with more than 30,000 workers is in good order.
The visitors watched it with gusto, and the docent said very interestingly: "The length of the ship is nearly 400 meters, which is equivalent to a skyscraper crossing over." "The transportation capacity of one LNG carrier can be used by the whole city of Shanghai for a month." The steel frame, blue sky and blue waves complement each other, and the integration of industrial production and humanistic spirit bursts out a shocking and majestic power.
The immersive experience of ship model building is also an important part. In the manual practice of simulating shipbuilding team operations in groups, the classroom transformed into a "mini shipyard" where visitors learned hands-on the disassembly and assembly of ship structures and the principles of segmented manufacturing. "The accuracy of installing important components such as power systems and electrical control systems often needs to be controlled within 0.06 mm, which is comparable to a hair." "Jiangnan craftsmen" from the front line shared the shipbuilders' rigorous attitude of "zero errors and zero hidden dangers", allowing visitors to experience the craftsmanship spirit of "millimeter ingenuity".
"We hope that young people can look up in front of the 10,000-ton giant ship and plant the seeds of 'I want to build a ship' - this is the most important starting point for us to carefully build industrial tourism." Jiang Han said frankly.
As the birthplace of China's modern industry and the gathering place of China's modern industry, Shanghai is transforming century-old industrial accumulation into a unique urban cultural tourism experience. Here, COMAC, SAIC Motor, Jiangnan Shipbuilding, Baoshan Iron and Steel... well-known names are entering the lives of ordinary people in a more cordial manner.
Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site——
From "trying your luck" to normal "chasing arrows"
Reporter Sun Haitian
The visiting team stopped in front of the launch station. Chen Chang, who was standing in front of the team to explain, was wearing the work clothes of Hainan International Commercial Space Launch Co., Ltd.
This talkative "tour guide" also has another identity - a group of methane operators of the launch company, who is responsible for launch support at his post. It turned out that due to a temporary adjustment to the recent launch schedule, many tourists who had rushed to Wenchang, Hainan to watch the rocket launch did not return, but came to visit the launch station instead. The reception was too busy for a while, so the company took advantage of the break in tasks to dispatch front-line personnel to support the explanation.
Since its launch on November 30, 2024, as of August this year, the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site in Wenchang, Hainan has successfully launched 21 times in a row, and "launches every month" has gradually become the norm. Coupled with the adjacent China Wenchang Space Launch Site, the two launch sites are located in the same city. Waiting for a rocket has changed from "trying your luck" to a trip that can be arranged in advance, and "rocket chasers" have also become frequent visitors.
“In the past, watching rocket launches was a matter of ‘luck’, but now ‘chasing arrows’ has become the norm. After watching the ceremony, we wanted to understand the secret behind the rocket.” A tourist from Henan told reporters.
Ma Xia, who works as a space tourism receptionist in Wenchang, has been based here for nearly 10 years and has almost filled his calendar with launch dates. She watched 49 of the 51 launch missions carried out by the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China; she also returned to the launch site after the completion of the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site. "In the past 10 years in Wenchang, I have considered myself a Wenchang native." Over the years, she has taken tourists from all over the country to wait for the rocket to be ignited at the beach, and she has also begun to plan a new route: taking her children into the rocket factory and asking experts to talk face to face.
Standing under the workstation, the most frequently asked question by tourists is: Why does Rocket go out lying down?
The answer lies in the factory building a few hundred meters away. The rocket is laid flat there to complete assembly, testing, and transportation. It is transported to the work station and erected as a whole, and can be launched after filling. "Going out lying down and erecting the ready-to-fire rocket greatly shortens the time occupied in the launch area." Chen Chang said that refueling is a part of his daily dealings. "What I focus on at my post are parameters and valves. When I stand in front of tourists, I have to explain these in words they can understand," he said.
After leaving the launch site, the tourists' curiosity did not end.
This summer, the Wenchang Aerospace Science Popularization Center received 44,000 tourists. Song Hao, a 12-year-old boy from Tianjin, put on mixed reality glasses and simulated a space station mission. Taking off the device, he took his mother's hand and ran to the next experience area: "I saw the earth! It's blue, so beautiful!"
At the Aerospace Supercomputing Center, how satellite data is collected and transmitted back to the ground, and how it serves agriculture and transportation, are presented to visitors through screens and interactive projects. "Students not only want to see the rocket take off, but also want to know the complete story behind it." said Ye Shiyang, chairman of Wenchang Aerospace Supercomputing Intelligence Technology Co., Ltd. The ceremony, visits, and science popularization continued, and the trip for the rocket was extended from half a day to two or three days.
If tourists stay one more night, the town will get more business. In 2025, Longlou Town, Wenchang's "aerospace town", will have an influx of more than 400,000 tourists, with tourism revenue reaching 60 million yuan.
After the explanation, Chen Chang returned to his work station, and the next task was still progressing according to the rhythm. Tourists continue to visit the next stop, looking forward to the flames of the rocket taking off.
