Industrial power － Through numerous cartoon characters and ant images, combined with the shape of machinery and equipment, it symbolizes the great power generated by the silent dedication of industrial workers in Chongqing, which promotes the development of Chongqing’s industry. 

Eighteen warriors － To commemorate the eve of liberation to dismantle the Kuomintang in the plant buried explosives and heroic sacrifice of the workers who protected the factory.

The treasure of Chongqing Industrial Museum － 8000 horsepower twin cylinder horizontal steam engine

Steel art relief wall

Glorious years － Created by combining the emblem of Hanyang Iron Works and the emblem of Iron and Steel Works Relocation Committee, it formed a steel seal with the casting car on the production line of Special Steel Works, which was engraved with the time mark of the century-old industry of Chongqing.

The logo of Chongqing Industrial Museum

As an important historical witness of the 70th anniversary celebration of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, the “charm Chongqing” float is now collected in Chongqing Industrial Museum.

China’s first generation Y-V light multi-role aircraft donated by Chongqing Three Gorges General Aviation Corporation. (All pictures provided by Chongqing Industrial Museum)

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Most women lacked a sense of intimacy with the icy “steel”, but when I grew up in a forging company, I was always looking for my childhood memories, so I went to the Chongqing Industrial Museum.

Stepping into a museum built on the remnants of some industrial remains of the prototype steel plant of Chongqing Iron and Steel, my inner estrangement quickly collapsed. The first large-scale industrial comprehensive museum with the largest scale, the most collections, and the most complete content in the city is stunned. In addition to sense of affection, there is also shock.

The fate of a city is bound up with the fortunes of a country. The six exhibition halls in the main exhibition hall with an area of about 8,000 square meters fully record the splendid history of Chongqing industry over 120 years, comprehensively show the revitalization of the national industry after Chongqing opened to foreign trade, and the great contribution made by Chongqing industry to China’s anti-Japanese war, national economic recovery, urbanization process of Chongqing and China’s industrialization process.

“The country Director-Director-in-Steel.” The 5000-square-meter “Steel Soul” Hall, true emersion in those days to preserve national industrial blood and that life and death that spread out migrates greatly. The predecessor of Chonggang was Hanyang Iron Works, the first modern iron and steel enterprise in China, which was founded in 1890 by Zhang Zhidong, a representative of the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty. In March 1938, the Japanese army pressed on with guns, and the Iron and Steel Plant Relocation Committee was ordered to take on the heavy task of relocating the Hanyang Iron Plant and the iron and steel plants near Wuhan to Chongqing in the rear. More than 1,200km, through rapids and rapids, Japanese planes bombarded indiscriminately along the way. By October, more than 32,300 tons of equipment and equipment finally arrived at Chongqing Dadukou. From then on until 1944, including the bombing period, there was no day of suspension of production. Experts and technicians from Shanghai and Wuhan stayed away from their homeland with enthusiasm and became the first generation of heavy steel people! 

After the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, Chongqing became the most important industrial base in southwest China. After the reform and opening up, Chongqing’s industrial reform pilot was the first in the country. After being directly under the central government, it is determined to explore and continuously leapfrog. The first light multi-role “Y-F” aircraft manufactured in China, and the “Jialing brand” manufactured by Jialing Industry Co., Ltd. CJ50 motorcycles, Chongqing-made “Shancheng brand” cars... All of these show the great contribution that Chongqing industry has made to the process of Chongqing’s urbanization and China’s industrialization. Pieces of precious collections help people touch the traces of the vicissitudes of time and find many familiar memories connected with life.

With a length of 10m, a height of 2m and a weight of 250t, the horizontal steam prime mover with two cylinders and 8000 horsepower can be called the treasure of the town hall. This big guy can be described as a story of ups and downs: produced in the UK Sheffield Company, bought back by Zhang Zhidong in 1906, moved west from Hanyang Iron Works to Chongqing in 1938. On the way, a key component was sunk in the river due to Japanese bombing, leaving the equipment idle for more than 10 years until the founding of the People’s Republic of China. In 1952, it successfully rolled the first rail of the People’s Republic of China, and the first railway of new China, Chengdu-Chongqing Railway, was built with it. By 1985, it had completed its mission and retired, but its rumble still reverberates in the depths of history...

To pass on history is to face the future. It is an inevitable requirement for the high-quality development of a modern city to implement the protective development of the Chongqing Iron and Steel Area. It is also a treasure of the memories and emotions of generations of builders of the Steel City. This land, where countless people shed their blood and made great achievements, has been reborn from now on.

I really want to touch the more than 16,000 exhibits one by one. This is not steel, but clearly a fiery heart beating. It is burning blood!

Introduce to the Scenic Area

Relying on some industrial remains of the old heavy steel section in Dadukou District, Chongqing Industrial Museum, based on an international perspective, uses contemporary advanced concepts and exhibition methods, and strives to create a pan-museum system with innovative creativity, interactive experience, and theme scenes. Composed of the main exhibition hall, “Steel Soul” Hall, industrial heritage park, etc., it is Chongqing’s top ten landmark cultural facility projects, the country’s top ten old industrial base relocation and transformation pilot projects, the first batch of national industrial heritage projects, the 7th batch of national key cultural relics protection unit, and Chongqing science popularization base.

Characteristics for fun

Visit the exhibition: The “Hundred Years of Elegance—Basic Exhibition of the History of Chongqing’s Industrial Development” in the main exhibition hall, centered on the 130-year development of Chongqing’s industry since modern times, comprehensively shows the revitalization of the national industry after Chongqing’s opening to the outside world, and Chongqing’s industry’s contribution to China’s anti-Japanese war and the restoration of the national economy. Chongqing’s urbanization process and China’s industrialization process have made significant contributions. The exhibition has won the 7th National Museum Top Ten Exhibition Excellence Award.

The “Steel Soul” hall is the activation and utilization of the former site of the seventh batch of key cultural relics protection units in the country, “Chongqing Anti-Japanese War Weapon Industry Site Group － Steel Qianhui Production Workshop”, including special exhibitions and popular science experience.

The industrial ruins park displays the treasure of the town museum － the 8000 horsepower double cylinder horizontal steam prime mover produced in Britain in 1905, and other precious industrial equipment exhibits, reflecting the perfect combination of industrial culture and public art.

Purchasing cultural and creative souvenirs: With the brand concept of “Precise Craftsmanship, Boguna New”, the museum integrates urban culture, industrial collection elements and contemporary life products into re-creation, creating the “Chongqing Gongfu” series of cultural and creative brands, and won 2020 Bronze Award in the Chinese Characteristic Tourism Commodity Competition.

Self-driving route:

You can search and navigate “Chongqing Industrial Museum” in the main urban areas of Chongqing. (Writer: Han Yi/Chongqing Daily) 

(Translated by Luo Juan, Fathom Language Limited)