Hangzhou Glass Factory / 杭州玻璃厂

So, because today is the opening of the G20 meeting in Hangzhou, I decided to write about an old exploration I did back when I lived there this year. The industrial building is located next to Hangzhou Steel Factory, which I also visited during the spring this year. It used to be a glass factory […]

Hangzhou Boiler Plant / 杭洲锅炉厂

Here is another report about Hangzhou’s past industrial identity. Yes, as I spent some time there, I rapidly got tired of the touristic places and went looking for less obvious historical ruins. I first spotted this place in March 2016, on a bus trip to Capital Paradise. By the way, although I will not tell […]

[part 2] Hangzhou Iron and Steel Plant / 杭州钢铁厂

This report is about another part of Hangzhou Iron and Steel that I went to visit last month: the steel wire sub-factory of Hanggang. The advantage of this factory closing down not so long ago is that there are still many remaining objects in the buildings and one can follow better the production process.

Hangzhou Oxygen Plant / 杭洲制氧机厂

The name of this factory is quite ironic: oxygen manufactoring in China! I am very happy to write about this visit of the famous « Hangyang », another abandoned factory in Hangzhou after Hanggang. Again, I spotted the place from a public bus, I was really attracted to its 1950s architecture so I immediately jumped off the […]

Hangzhou Steel Coking Plant / 杭钢焦化厂

So this is the second part of the huge production site of Hangzhou Iron and Steel Industry: after I visited the steel plant, I went to the coking factory, which is just next to it. I am not a technical specialist, but a coking plant is a chemical plant which uses coal heated at very […]

Hangzhou Iron and Steel Plant / 杭州钢铁厂

I must say I was a bit hopeless for Hangzhou in terms of abandoned places because of the rapidity of urban development and of the high ambitions of becoming a first-class city in China (unfortunately this brings almost only negative transformations). But I also realized that, until recently (and it’s still going on in some […]

Hangzhou’s « liquor barrel » building / 杭州的“大酒桶”楼

This is a report about an « unfinished rotten » building in Hangzhou. The city of Hangzhou is now actively preparing for the G20, which means, like for all mega-events in China, that the ultimate priority is put on the city’s image (市容 shirong): everywhere, one can notice large-scale demolition, renovation or rehabilitation of buildings. That is […]