On March 30, 2012, Beijing Shougang lifted the first CBA championship trophy in the history of the team at the MasterCard Center.
Ten years later, at the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Shougang Ski Jump in Shijingshan District became a blessing for the Chinese Legion, witnessing the birth of Gu Ailing and Su Yiming.
Sports is an important part of the development of humanities; Shougang and Shougang Park, which have been tested by the times, shoulder the responsibility and responsibility of historical transformation.
Text / Guthman
Editor / Song Xinyu, Yin Haonan
The curtain has fallen on the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, but the classic footage that remains in people's memories is still moving.
When Gu Ailing and Su Yiming successively completed the "flying leap" of the Shougang big jump, the athletes' posture in the air and the emblem on the cooling tower next to the venue were superimposed, and the contrast between modern and historical intertwining made Shougang Park a world-class "internet celebrity", and also made Shougang, once the heavy industry base in western Beijing, revitalized because of sports and the Olympic Games.
Photographed: Zhao Qing
01
Shougang, the memories that Beijingers can't get around
Perhaps for many people, it seems difficult to imagine that this "Ten Mile Steel City" once had a splendid history of a hundred years.
In 1919, when the Qing government had just collapsed, the people's requirements for material reserves in the warlord melee were relatively high, and the market also ushered in a "small prosperity". This not only stimulated domestic production, but also made many businessmen take out their own bottoms and choose to develop industries.
In such a situation, the machinery and equipment used for production, as well as the raw materials such as steel and iron required for the production of these equipment, have become just demand. Seeing that the only steel company at that time, "Hanyeping Company", quickly completed the transformation from loss to profit, the Beiyang government decided to open a joint iron ore company in the north.
In the end, the Beiyang government invested 5 million yuan in the ocean, the site was set at Shijingshan in Beiping, and approved the establishment of the longyan iron ore co., ltd., which began the century-long development process of Shougang.
For the first few decades, however, the steel company was in turmoil. The Beiyang government, which originally started it, soon disappeared into the dust of history; during the War of Resistance Against Japan, the steel plant never really achieved its ideal production goals.
Until the nationalization of New China, production was fully resumed from June 1949 to the full recovery of Beijing's ferrous metallurgical industry at the end of 1952. In three years, Shougang has achieved a goal that has not been completed in 30 years since the establishment of the factory in 1919.
Shougang coke oven work scene in August 1955 (Source: Xinhua News Agency)
In the "Beiping" where there was almost no modern industry, Shougang, which was lined with chimneys, symbolized the rise of China's modern economy at that time. The construction of Shougang has thus become the core project to turn China into a productive country and get rid of poverty.
For a long time since, Shougang, along with several other major chinese steel mills, represented the "booming" industrial civilization of New China and was the spokesman for the new Chinese economy.
For the people of Shijingshan, located in the west of Beijing, from the musical fountain outside the east gate of the Shougang Factory, which is the starting point of Chang'an Avenue; to the 168-meter-long, 10.8-meter-high, 1,800-square-meter-long mural of the Great Wall in China, "Unity of Purpose"; the Yueji Garden and the Sika Deer Garden, which pioneered the garden-style factory; the two landmark buildings in the east and west- the Wenguan and the Tao Garden; and the May Day Theater frequently performed by Peking Opera masters such as Mei Lanfang, Ma Lianliang, and Zhang Junqiu...
Not to mention, the bread, sodas, and red fruit popsicles that belong to the kids. Shougang, which occupies almost half of the lives and joys of the people of western Beijing, has become a memory of a generation of growing up.
In 2014, due to the construction of the west extension of Chang'an Avenue, the huge murals were demolished along with the extra-heavy workshop factory building
02
From steel to sports business cards
However, when the time entered the 1990s, beijing's urban expansion and China's economic transformation highlighted Shougang's embarrassing situation. The air pollution problem caused by Shougang has also been paid more and more attention and criticized by people.
After Beijing's successful bid to host the Summer Olympics in 2001, Shougang began an unprecedented relocation adjustment in 2003 in order to realize the promise of the Green Olympics.
On June 30, 2005, Shougang's meritorious blast furnace, the No. 5 blast furnace, was discontinued and demolished, marking the official launch of the relocation of Shougang, China's largest steel conglomerate, which has a glorious history of more than 80 years. The hordes of Shougang people spontaneously rushed to the No. 5 blast furnace like a tide, with mixed feelings, to make a final farewell.
The relocation of Shougang's steel-related system has set a precedent for the relocation of the world's largest enterprises. The 67.7 billion yuan project created China's first large-scale modern steel base built near the sea. The leap of more than 100,000 Shougang people "from mountains to sea" has not only made a significant contribution to Beijing's successful hosting of the Olympic Games, but also marked Shougang with a deeper sports brand.
In December 2010, Shougang smelted the last furnace steel (Source: Workers Daily)
In fact, in the history of Shougang, sports have always been an important part of the DNA.
From the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, costly projects such as football and basketball were in trouble against the backdrop of local efforts to concentrate superior resources on the development of Olympic gold-winning events. In order to cooperate with the government's reform of sports, Shougang jointly established the Beijing Basketball Team with Beijing In 1998, and the Beijing Men's and Women's Basketball Team was officially renamed beijing Shougang Men's and Women's Basketball Team.
Two years later, Shougang took over the team of the former Beijing Military Region Football Team to form the Shougang Football Team, which was also the first professional football team established in the mainland and was completely funded by enterprises.
Although the Shougang football team quickly disappeared into history, as the Shougang men's and women's basketball team won the championship in the league one after another, and the table tennis team cultivated a number of Olympic champions such as Zhang Yining and Ding Ning, Shougang gradually became a banner of Beijing sports.
Perhaps like many state-owned enterprises, Shougang initially invested in sports as part of its social mission. But the difference is that Shougang has successfully integrated sports elements into Shougang's "blood" through 30 years of insistence on sports, especially basketball.
As sports became an important part of Shougang's "non-steel industry", in the context of China's sports reform in full swing, Shougang Group established Shougang Sports Culture Co., Ltd. as early as 2008, achieving leapfrog development in the industrial layout.
After hiring Qin Xiaowen, who has many years of work experience in the sports industry, as the general manager of Shougang Sports, Shougang also launched a series of planning and actions: naming the Beijing men's ice hockey team and obtaining the right to operate the team, cooperating with the Chinese Baseball Association to host a baseball league, launching the Eagle Program to cultivate more basketball reserve talents, and carrying out a series of cooperation with the State General Administration of Sport in the field of ice and snow... After becoming a comprehensive pilot for deepening the reform of state-owned enterprises in Beijing in 2017, sports have become more and more important on the road to transformation of Shougang.
Beijing Shougang Ice Hockey National Team Club Inauguration Ceremony
03
Renovation, industrial park rebirth
It is based on Shougang's fit with sports elements for many years and the superiority of Shougang Park's geographical location. In 2015, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee announced the selection of Shougang Park as its office location, and Shougang also took this opportunity to vigorously promote the construction of the park.
The largest industrial zone in western Beijing, which once experienced splendor, has begun to be built as a model for the "reuse of heritage" in Beijing's industry and a new landmark for urban rejuvenation.
In May 2016, the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee moved into Shougang and began to build a national winter training center in the Shougang Park, except for the ice hockey stadium hall that was transformed from a coal transportation station, the remaining short track speed skating hall, figure skating hall and curling hall Were selected in the refined coal workshop - a 300 meters long and 66 meters wide old coal storage warehouse, previously built for coal unloading work, the length of a train.
The KHL Kunlun Hongxing home stadium was once located here
In December 2018, shougang ski jumping platform began construction, as the world's first permanently retained and used ski jumping platform, it can not only host domestic and foreign big jumping sports events, in addition, at the beginning of the design and construction, fully consider the use of the post-game, after the Olympics will be transformed into a sports theme park serving the public, open to the public.
For example, the 798 Art District in Beijing, which also has a clever use of the original appearance of the old Soviet factory building in the 50s, introduces asset-light resources such as "artists" and "cultural institutions", and gradually develops into a new district with international color art through careful design and decoration through the internal design and decoration of well-known designers.
The difficulty and cost of Shougang's transformation are much higher than those of the 798. 798 is mainly based on factories, while the Shougang Park is mostly industrial facilities such as silos, silos, blast furnaces, etc., and the complexity and difficulty of transformation are very large.
For example, behind the snow flying on the big jumping platform, the Winter Olympic emblem tower, which became the focus of the camera with the athletes in the air moment during the entire Winter Olympic Games, was called "the big chimney" by Gu Ailing. These 4 hyperbolic cooling towers with a height of 70 meters are actually the supporting equipment of the original Shougang Power Plant, the earliest was built in 1978, the latest was built in 1991, and it ran until the main steel process of the old Shougang plant was discontinued.
At the beginning of the design, it was planned that the cooling tower would be used as an important background for athletes to take off in the air, appearing in the high-speed camera screen and becoming an important identification element for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. However, this is very difficult and challenging for the design and implementation of the coating.
According to china daily and other media reports, the cooling tower tower is towering, but the main body of its eggshell structure is very fragile. To ensure the landscape effect, the design team repeatedly tested, reconstructing the cooling tower model, simulating the athlete's jump trajectory, and accurately measuring the size and angle of the cooling tower emblem coating. The final determination of the painted emblem is 16.5 meters high, 13 meters wide and 46 meters above the ground, and the confirmation of this point has achieved overlap with athletes.
On the other hand, due to the large size of the cooling tower, the construction process needs to cut the emblem into unit screens, confirm the turning point of the emblem point by point, and finally paint it by hand. Zhang Li, who is the chief designer, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency: "The cooling tower is an extension of the Beijing skyline, which is the impression of Shougang when I was a child. Today, Shougang is the epitome of Beijing's urban renewal."
In addition, according to the introduction of the relevant person in charge of Shougang to Krypton, the big jumping track has reserved a water outlet during construction, and in the future, it can not only ski, but also transform into water skiing, grass skiing and more projects according to demand. In the sports square and audience area under the ski jump, the builders also set up a special "atmosphere lighting" system, and can also hold large-scale events such as concerts.
During the Beijing Winter Olympics, the factory "spit" over Beijing, from billowing smoke to olympians, such a change can be said to be the best fusion of winter Olympic elements and old industrial sites.
Today, the northern area of Shougang Park, including part of the Shougang Ski Jump, which is the venue for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, has been opened to tourists
04
The Legacy of the Winter Olympics creates a new landmark in the city
For the sports facilities of the Winter Olympic Games, due to the characteristics of their competitions and the geographical location of the urban area, most of them are difficult to integrate with life, so many Olympic venues are often idle or demolished after the event. However, as one of the only four new venues in the Beijing Winter Olympics, the ski jumping venue in the Shougang Park has become the world's first permanent reserved venue.
In the view of chief designer Zhang Li, the trend of sports venue design in the world is "getting closer and closer to everyday", because sports itself is a way of daily life, and venues are shifting from serving professional large-scale events to serving daily use.
The sustainability of the Shougang Ski Jump is reflected in the permanent combination of youth sports and industrial heritage. Zhang Li said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency: "Most of the 'fans' of ski jumping are cool young people, drinking beer and watching competitions, and the Scene is just cool in the Shougang Industrial Heritage Zone by the Yongding River, cooling towers, cooling pools, blast furnaces, and silos."
According to Shougang's preliminary plan, the post-race use of shougang ski jumping platform mainly revolves around holding world-class events, creating professional athlete training venues, and carrying out commercial cultural and entertainment activities, etc., driving the diversified development of sports economy and society in Shougang Park and even in western Beijing.
"The Winter Olympics have brought us development opportunities and opened the door to the revitalization of Shougang. In the next step, we will adhere to the protection and reuse of industrial relics and styles in the old industrial zone, closely integrate the utilization of the Olympic heritage, the organic renewal of the old industrial zone, and the green and high-end development, realize cultural rejuvenation, industrial rejuvenation, ecological rejuvenation, and vitality rejuvenation, and make every effort to create a new landmark for the rejuvenation of the capital city in the new era."
The relevant person in charge of Shougang Group also said that it will adhere to the protection and reuse of industrial relics and styles in the old industrial zone, face new industries and new formats, maintain industrial style, excavate the unique charm of industrial heritage, and truly "see the mountains, see the water, and remember the Shougang complex".
Shougang Park has a new look, the former cooling pool Qunming Lake is rippling with blue waves, autonomous driving and unmanned retail vehicles are "smart and sensitive", and the transformed rails and pipe corridors are full of industrial wind. The memories of Shougang are gone, but the new Shougang allows them to still find happy times here.
Nowadays, the whole park has become the first choice for the surrounding citizens to walk and stroll. Full of industrial relics full of the sense of the times, with green and blue waves, and the re-flowing Yongding River, the proud "steel city" is once again appearing in everyone's eyes with a new look.
The once complete Shougang plant area is now like two parallel worlds. On the south side of the factory is the revitalized Shougang Park, which is surrounded by ski jumps and extreme sports parks. The old work factories and warehouses on the north side, the fallen leaves of a place and the old-fashioned buildings full of climbing tigers are still telling the history of this place.
Walking here, watching the staff wearing Shougang blue staff uniforms lining up one by one to enter the canteen, there is a sense of crossing. The former capital steel company has moved out, and the future here is no longer industrial, but closer to the word humanities.
Sports is an important part of the development of humanities; the centennial Shougang shoulders responsibilities and responsibilities.