At 3:00 am on June 27, the No.8 cooling tower of Hangzhou Banshan Power Station became history after a big bang. The tower, with a height of 150 meters, was the tallest cooling tower the country had ever brought down.

That means all the five tall cooling towers that used to stand along Kangqiao Road for nearly 40 years are bombed down.

A brief goodbye to these industrial sites marks a nostalgic urban memory.

Landmarks witness the glory of industrial age

As a landmark in the north side of Hangzhou, the five cooling towers were always seen puffing white vapor formed in cooling down the discharged hot water of the power plant.

"These cooling towers were built one after another in those years of urban expansion. In 1981, I got the chance to work in a power plant as an outcome of having more equipment and staff," recalled Huang Jianxiong, the former deputy general manager of Banshan Power Plant.

Hailed as the first one-million-kilowatt natural gas power plant in China, Banshan Power Plant has played an important role in the history of power supply in Hangzhou. It used to be the main source of electricity for the city. The Plant had contributed to the Olympic Games, World Expo and G20 Hangzhou Summit.

That is to say, these five high-rises have lit up the lights of thousands of households and guaranteed the city's electricity consumption as a witness of its industrial glory during their 40-years of service.

Power plant embraces a gorgeous makeover

After the last cooling tower is removed, the power plant will be transformed into a park with a new gas distribution data center project which has been started since December 28, 2021.

The data center is designed to be a multi-storey building, with four floors above the ground to match the city's skyline. The architectural modeling will feature the exterior walls with intertwined dark and light coating to create a modern and industrial view.

At the same time, the north-south landscape axis is built as a green belt to improve the microclimate and working environment. The park landscape is merged into the surrounding landscape nodes and the urban green belt.

The Plant is expected to become more high-tech and environmentally friendly by fostering a new "energy + digital" ecosystem. Its reconstruction will promote the overall industrial upgrading of the region, and integrate with the development of modern industries.

Industrial adjustment boosts a qualitative leap

Industrial heritages are a cultural memory and historical essence of a city. If Hangzhou were a history book, the industrial buildings would be an important chapter in the process of urban development.

As the city's "activated genes", the revived and re-used industrial buildings can be distinctive, adaptable, and crucial to inspiring new industries. Industrial heritages can also serve as an opportunity to local authorities to renew the city, attract new investment and create a new glory.

Gongshu district, which used to be an industrial base, has started upgrading the industrial heritages into the sites for cultural and creative industries. Hangzhou is the first city in Zhejiang province to do so.

Since 2007, industrial sites have been vacated one by one. Hangzhou Silk Printing and Dyeing Joint Factory is converted into a cultural and creative park while Hangzhou Steel Works is transformed into the Cloud Computing Center. SF Express, Huawei Cloud, Lenovo, NetEase, Tencent and many other high-tech, new technology, and Internet enterprises have taken their seats. The Qiaoxi Historical and Cultural District, transformed from old factory buildings, has become a fun place for residents along the Canal as well as a cultural symbol of the city.

Whether it is the business prosperity in the Canal era, or the working life in the industrial era, or the transformation to a new digital city, every industrial adjustment and development has made a meaningful leap in the life quality of the general public.

In July 2009, the Hangzhou Government issued the Implementation Opinions of Utilizing Factories for Cultural and Creative Industry Development as a further guide and support for this industry.

In Hangzhou, many old factories, warehouses and industrial parks have been turned into creative spaces, characteristic towns, and complexes. The layout of urban space has changed from functional zoning to functional synthesis and industry-city integration. Old factory buildings are integrated into the urban construction and people's life, showing the special value and unique charm of the past, while leaving a sense of industrial nostalgia.