Dacheng Flour Factory: An Atypical Journey of an Industrial Heritage Site in Shenzhen

This book traces the atypical journey of the Dacheng Flour Factory as a significant industrial heritage in Shenzhen’s Shekou Industrial Zone.

It spans from its inception at the beginning of China’s Reform and Opening Up in the 1980s, its role as a venue of an international biennale in 2015, to its present-day condition of a ruined site with uncertain fate. Perspectives from diverse angles - urban planner, site owner, biennale organizer, architect - are interwoven to provoke reflections, with images capturing each pivotal stage of its journey.

Built in 1980, Dacheng Flour Factory was the first wholly foreign-owned and exclusively operated enterprise introduced to Shekou Industrial Zone, Shenzhen, After years of flour production, it ended its operation in 2010 due to the industrial upgrading and transformation of the area. In 2015, the factory was selected as the main exhibition venue for the 6th Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB) as a remarkable industrial legacy, and it was revitalized and brought to life through the design and renovation by NODE. However, the buildings in the renovated area started to demolish only six months later after the biennale. The remaining part of the factory fell in silence again with uncertainties beside the new rising bustling world-class homeport.

Witness to the different stages of the city, Dacheng Flour Factory represents an exceptional yet universal case within the rapid urbanization process of the Pearl River Delta region in China. By revisiting and retracing its history through close observation and research, the book reflects on the current state of this industrial heritage, fosters conservation of urban regeneration on a broader scale, and hopes to promote changes in the reality.