Shougang, Retooled and Resurrected

SHOUGANG, literally “Capital Steel”, a very household name in Beijing, basically refers both to Shougang Group and its namesake steel plant – Shougang ( Capital Steel Plant) .

Shougang Group itself is a huge enterprise group with cross-regional, cross-ownership and transnational operation, mainly engaged in the production of steel industry, concurrently engaged in mining, machinery, electronics, construction, real estate, service industry, overseas trade and other industries.

Shougang or Capital Steel Plant in English, affiliated to Shougang Group, used to be the largest and the most famous plant for manufacturing iron and steel in Beijing.

The steel mill was first built in 1919 in Shijingshan District, west of Beijing city proper and had run for almost a century until 2005. In that year, the local Beijing authority decided to shut it down and move its operations out of the city prior to Beijing Olympics 2008 due to concerns over pollution.

Shougang Shijingshan Industrial Cultural Park

After the closure of the Shijingshan site of Shougang Steel Plant, the local government decided to repurpose the time-honored steel mill as a heritage site for industry tourism.

On September 12, 2013, Shougang Industrial Cultural Park officially became a 3A level tourist scenic spot.

Now the old Shijingshan site of the steel plant has become a hot destination, a place where people can go for their daily leisure and get a sense of what steel and iron industry is, what industrial workers are.

Blast furnaces ringed by lake water and green trees

Drive from Beijing downtown to the west on the Fushi Road Phase Overpass, out of the West Fifth Ring road, you can have a panoramic view of 30 – 40 meters high brown ironmaking blast furnacse and chimneys ringed by lake water and green trees, here is the old factory area of Shijingshan.

The old factory site park covers an area of 1.96 square kilometers, visitors can not only have a close look at a blast furnace, sit on a small train for sightseeing, but also experience the most nostalgic characteristics of the Old Shougang soda water, eating with the canteen trays popular in the old days, getting you back to the time when the real Shougang people did.

The Venue for Beijing Committeee 2022 Winter Olympic Games

In 2016, the government made another creative decision to have part of the old steel mill retooled to accommodate Beijing Organising Committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and to build some of the venues and the training centers for athletes as well.

A huge sign of the 2022 winter games erected in the old steel mill

The arrival of the Organizing Committee has brought new vitality to the deserted factory. People, selected from all sectors, come here for the preparation of the games, enlivening the spacious place.