A bit of history by riverside
Print Edition
YANGPU’S riverside area was once home to many of the earliest Chinese industries, including the earliest paper and textile mills, shipyard, water plant, coal gas plant as well as a fish market — most of them dating back almost a century ago.
In recent past, China’s first 10,000-ton ship, the Shaoxing, was built in the area — Shanghai Shipyard — in 1978 and the nation’s first oil drilling platform was also built here in 1984.
The platform is still operating. But many of the other factories were abandoned or relocated around a decade ago.
The district government now plans to develop the 15.5-kilometer-long area by the side of the Huangpu River — the longest in downtown Shanghai — into public space for residents and tourists. It will include parks, pedestrian and cycle paths, as well as renovated industrial buildings, Xie Jiangang, director of Yangpu has said.
The area will feature a cluster of museums showcasing China’s once glorious industrial history. Some 60 historically protected buildings will be converted into museums or exhibition halls.
“We will keep as many original industrial heritages as possible along the riverbank, because they are important memories of the city,” Xie said.
The Shanghai Shipyard, for instance, which has relocated, has left behind a large number of facilities such as gear wheels, conveyor belt crane towers, and pipelines. Besides those, there are two major shipyards, a workshop and a historic building with Shanghai’s earliest elevators — all worth preserving and exhibiting to the public.
Some equipment and relics of the nation’s first textile mill, which was built in 1915, and the major seafood market which opened in 1946 will also be developed for use as exhibition space.
A two-story wood-and-brick English-style country villa, which was the residence of the British boss of the textile mill, has now been converted into a visitors’ area.
Some exhibits are devoted to the city’s water and electricity plants. The Shanghai Tap Water Exhibition Hall has been built in an historic office building at Yangshupu Water Plant, which was opened in 1883. The water plant is still one of the city’s major plants.
In the district’s general blueprint, about 60 percent of the riverside would become a public space. New roads, tunnels and a bridge will also be built. Other spaces will be used to support commercial facilities and office buildings.
“It will become the best place for people to do exercise, recreation, sightseeing and travel,” Xie said.
The government also plans to build nine tunnels across the river by 2020 to ensure smooth transport operation.
The major structure of the Anpu Road Bridge has been completed and will be opened to public soon. The Yangshupu Road, a major thoroughfare, will be made wider.
Moreover, a new Metro Line 18 will connect the riverside area.
A 550-meter-long section of the riverside has been completed and already opened to the public. The riverside path features an old lighthouse as well as flood prevention dams.
Yangpu’s riverside development plan is part of a Shanghai blueprint to create 45km long continuous public area on both sides of the river by the end of 2017.
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