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In a movie shot, it can be a prison, a fight ring, a race track. But in real life, it is actually a long-closed workshop of the former Chongqing Iron and Steel Company's Fourth Steel Plant.
In Sanjiang Street, Qijiang District, Chongqing, there are 15 such workshops with a total area of 61,000 square meters. But for Sanjiang's 3.5-square-kilometer industrial and mining area, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Although the buildings have long been empty, and the factory buildings and railway tracks are rusty, this industrial and mining area has a memory of the times that cannot be erased.
Old photo of the workshop of the fourth factory of the former Chongqing Iron and Steel Company (formerly known as the fourth steel plant of the former Chongqing Iron and Steel Company). (Courtesy of the interviewee)
In the 1980s and 1990s, county-owned state-owned flour mills, wineries, silk reeling factories and other enterprises flew together with three municipal state-owned enterprises, Chongqing Iron and Steel Company's Fourth Iron and Steel Plant, Chongqing Wire Rope Factory and Chongqing Smelter. Sanjiang has formed an industrial base based on metallurgy, electromechanical and chemical industry, and has become a well-known industrial town in the southwest region, known as the hometown of metallurgical mechanical and electrical industry.
After 2000, enterprises collapsed one after another, and the industrial era of Sanjiang came to an end.
When people are gone, what about the old buildings left behind? "If we don't try to revitalize these industrial remnants, their fate is likely to be pushed down." Ye Jingyu, a member of the Sanjiang Subdistrict Party Working Committee, said.
With some period dramas becoming popular on the screen, Sanjiang began to think about whether it was possible to transform into a film and television shooting base.
The current situation of the workshop of the fourth steel plant of the former Chongqing Iron and Steel Company. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Qingbing
According to Jiang Yan, director of the Sanjiang Street Cultural Service Center, as early as 2000, someone made a movie with the Sanjiang Industrial and Mining Area as the background.
In 2015, Sanjiang officially transformed into a film and television shooting base. In Sanjiang, not only can the workshop be used as a "photo studio", but also the commissaries, cinemas, gymnasiums, and dormitory buildings in the staff living area in that year also frequently entered the footage of film and television dramas.
The building in the living area of the fourth steel plant of the former Chongqing Iron and Steel Company. (Courtesy of the interviewee)
According to Jiang Yan, in the process of transformation, Sanjiang "felt the stones to cross the river", mainly with the filming unit to strengthen contact and communication, understand the needs, assist in the survey, solve the crew in the prop production, group performance, special vehicle equipment services and other aspects of the problem, to achieve the crew shooting, housing, food and other integrated services, with services to attract more film and television production personnel to Sanjiang filming.
Film set in the living area of the former Chongqing Iron and Steel Company's Fourth Iron and Steel Plant. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Qingbing
On April 15 this year, the Chongqing Film Producers Association awarded the Sanjiang Film and Television Shooting Base. From "Buckwheat Madness" to "Assassination of a Novelist", there are currently nearly 110 movies and TV series (episodes) filmed by Sanjiang. The arrival of the crew has stimulated the local economic development, and as of 2020, more than 20,000 local actors have participated in the filming, and the hotel occupancy rate has reached 100%.
Luo Meng, the production manager of Chongqing Luo Bin Film and Television Production Studio, went to Sanjiang to shoot more than a decade ago and has now brought more than 20 crews to Sanjiang. "Although the Sanjiang area mainly reflects the scenes of the 1980s and 1990s, modern dramas also like to shoot here. Many directors praise The environment in Sanjiang. This year, soon there will be another web series adapted from anime to be filmed in Sanjiang. Luo Meng said.
Jiang Yan believes that everything is just the beginning, and the transformation of Sanjiang still has a long way to go. In addition to using idle workshops and factories, Sanjiang also plans to build a film and television street, a film and television park, upgrade the surrounding supporting service facilities, build a digital cinema, introduce a cultural and creative team to build an industrial park, and transform more than 2,000 acres of ancient terraces into shooting scenes.
Planner/Editor: Jin Xiaoqian, Zhang Xiaojie
Text/Video Reporter: Chen Qingbing
Poster photography: Liu Liu
Poster Maker: Lu Zhe