Ten Years Of Butterfly Change In Tianjin "Miansan" Centennial Factory

(Poster production: Fang Jinyang)

If you take a bird's-eye view of Tianjin, what is unique to this city except for the high-rise buildings that directly point to the sky, the various small western-style buildings known as the "World Architecture Expo", and the endless cruise ships on the sea and river?

On the east bank of Haihe River in Hedong District, Tianjin, there is a brick red building complex. A hundred years ago, it was a textile factory with booming machines and busy workers; One hundred years later, it has become a trendy street where young people gather and ideas collide.

This is a trend gathering place called "Tianjin Cotton 3 Creative Street", formerly known as Tianjin No.3 Cotton Textile Factory. Its history can be traced back to Yuda Cotton Mill and Baocheng Cotton Mill founded in the 1920s. According to Tianjin Textile Centennial Chronicle, in 1930, Baocheng Yarn Factory resolutely implemented the 8-hour working system in the factory, which became the first in China, in view of the fact that the 12 hour work was "exhausting and the production was poor, and the labor and capital were both harmed".

In 1950, this textile factory was officially renamed as Tianjin No.3 Cotton Textile Factory, or Miansan for short, and quickly became the main force of Tianjin textile industry. It has made great contributions to Tianjin's textile industry, which has been ranked among the top three in the country for a long time, and is an important relic of Tianjin's light textile industry.

In the 21st century, with the eastward shift of Tianjin's industrial strategy and the relocation and transformation of old enterprises, textile enterprises, chemical enterprises and machinery enterprises have moved one after another. With the development of the city, the roaring machine gradually stops running, leaving behind this cluster of buildings.

"When we first came to visit the park, there were many weeds, which was a bleak scene. The whole plant area was surrounded by walls, and the plant was dark, even a bit sinister." Chen Qiang, the general manager of Tianjin Miansan Creative Enterprise Management Service Co., Ltd. recalled the appearance of Miansan ten years ago.

The dilapidated buildings and the overgrown plant area have been forgotten for more than ten years in the golden area by the Haihe River.

In 2013, Tianjin Housing Group began to implement protective transformation of the three old cotton plants. During the transformation, the thick brick walls, the forest of pipes, and the mottled ground were preserved, making the whole space full of the vicissitudes of the industrial civilization era.

Planting Chinese parasol trees will attract the phoenix to roost. In 2015, Miansan, which was upgraded and transformed, was renamed as "Miansan Creative Block", officially attracting foreign investment and becoming the first new creative block in Tianjin integrating creative design, business consulting, art exhibition, new media services, etc.

Beijing Hanmuchunhua Animation Technology Co., Ltd. is famous in the industry for releasing an animated film "The Battle of Luo Xiaohei" a few years ago. As one of the fastest growing animation companies in China in recent years, in 2021, the company decided to move to Beijing as a whole from Beijing, which has been developing for many years.

"Since the summer of 2021, we have had colleagues coming to Tianjin to investigate and compare with each other. It still conforms to our temperament and style. We finally decided to move the company to Tianjin as a whole," the head of Hanmu Chunhua Animation Technology Co., Ltd. told reporters, "Some colleagues have begun to settle down and buy houses in Tianjin, which is a place where we can take root."

Since 2015, after more than seven years of development, the comprehensive rental rate of Mian3 creative street has reached 86%. At present, more than 180 enterprises have settled in, with a registered capital of more than 2 billion yuan, and more than 2300 jobs have been provided.

"In the 10 years from 2013 to now, our protection and utilization of Mian3 has been very successful. We plan to attract tourists from all over the country to Mian3 by constantly creating the IP of Mian3. At the same time, we also want to develop catering and entertainment carriers to make tourists get in and sit down." Chen Qiang told reporters.

Promoting "Mian3" to the fast track of development is the highlight of Hedong District's development this year. In view of the problem that the current "Mian3" infrastructure construction needs to be improved, as early as the beginning of this year, Hedong District has put new project reconstruction, wharf construction, popularity gathering, surrounding supporting and other basic work on the agenda. The special class for the implementation of Mian3 creative street was also established at the beginning of the year. Eight working groups will carry out nanny service to provide human resources, legal advice and other services for key high-quality enterprises and enterprises that meet the digital technology industry orientation.