Introduction to a Major Project of the National Social Science Fund: Research on China’s Industrial Heritage Conservation System

• Published in: Built heritage 2018-03, Vol.2 (1), p.3-18
• Main Authors: Xu, Subin, Aoki, Nobuo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: adaptive reuse; Architecture; China; Creative industries; Cultural heritage; Design; industrial heritage; Industrial restructuring; Modernization; Social research; Teams; technological history; value evaluation
• ISSN: 2096-3041; 2662-6802
• DOI: 10.1186/BF03545699

Since the 1980s, China has undergone a series of important changes including industrial restructuring, land transfer, and urbanisation. These have given rise to the issue of how to address industrial heritage within many cities. The author’s research team has undertaken a National Social Science’s Major Project (the highest level of Chinese national social science research) titled ‘Systematic Research on the Protection of Urban Industrial Heritage in Modern China’. This is the first nationwide and systematic study of industrial heritage in China. This paper provides a brief introduction to the study’s framework and current research achievements, including: (1) the study of industrial modernisation processes, including international perspectives; (2) industrial heritage information acquisition and database setup; (3) estimation of industrial heritage value; (4) studies of the planning and design strategy of industrial heritage reutilisation; and (5) the transition from industrial heritage conservation to the development of a cultural industry.