The government of Jinzhong City in north China's Shanxi Province is cooperating with enterprises to revive its century-old Jinhua Textile Mill by turning it into a culture zone.
The local government has raised more than 300 million yuan (46 million U.S. dollars) to renovate the plant and introduce craftsmen as well as traditional workshops to this piece of industrial heritage, according to Qin Yanru, an official with Jinzhong Cultural Affairs Bureau.
Qin said that the renovations and reinforcements of the plant's Western-style office building, workshops, warehouses and gates were almost completed.
It will also become an industrial cluster for research institutes and cultural companies to revive Chinese traditional craftsmanship such as painted sculpture, murals, colored glaze and wood carving. It will also hold exhibitions and cultivate talent.
Once the largest textile plant in Shanxi, Jinhua Textile Mill was listed as a county-level protection site owing to its historical role and fine combination of Chinese and Western elements in its architecture.
The plant was set up in 1919 by a group of politicians and merchants from Shanxi who wanted to revitalize the national industry. It was put into production in 1924 and went bankrupt in 2009.
