Baoshan Past ｜ ＂Riverside Chorus-Baoshan Past Collection＂： No.8 National Cotton Factory, a meter of sunshine solidified in history.
editorial comment/note
At present, Baoshan is fully implementing the strategic requirements of the "North-South Transformation" of the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government, anchoring the positioning of "one place and two districts" and doing the "three transformations" of industry, space and governance. The development of the region needs the prosperity of culture. With the support of the United Front Work Department of the district committee, Tang Jihui, the president of the new district association, devoted himself to studying the history and culture of Baoshan for more than ten years, collected and sorted out a large number of historical documents, and compiled and published a book "Poems on the Riverside-Collection of Baoshan Past Events", which reflected the historical and cultural memory of Baoshan City, continued the historical context of the city, and showed the positive actions of the United Front in the cultural field. Baoshan united front with WeChat official account to open up a column on Baoshan’s past, serializing the contents of the book "Poems on the Riverside-Collection of Baoshan’s Past", and going into Baoshan’s human history in a hundred years’ circulation.
Old city memory
Guomian No.8 factory
One meter of sunshine solidified in history
Songxing west road is not long, but it takes only ten minutes to walk west from Tongji intersection of Songxing road on the east side. In the past, Songxing West Road was a trail. Even from 1949 to 1953, Songxing West Road was called the back road of the factory. Because the main entrance of Shanghai No.8 Cotton Textile Factory was on the outer road (now Songpu Road), the house number was No.751, and this trail was located at the back door of the cotton mill, it had such a simple and memorable name. My studio is in the Peninsula Wenchuang Garden in 1919 on this road, which was transformed from Shanghai No.8 Cotton Textile Factory in 2007. Today, its house number has changed to No.258 Songxing West Road.
Nie Yuntai
(The Globe, Volume 2, No.4, 1917)
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Greater China cotton mill
(Quarterly of the Federation of Chinese Cotton Mills, Volume 3, No.2, 1922)
Yong ‘an No.2 Factory Period Office Building
(China Daguan Picture Yearbook, 1930)
After the Great China Cotton Mill was changed to Yong ‘an No.2 and No.4 Factory, Huafeng Cotton Mill was changed to China Textile No.8 Factory, and in 1950, it was changed to Guomian No.8 Factory. In 1958, it merged with Yong ‘an No.2 and No.4 Factory to form Guomian No.8 Factory. Subsequently, Guomian No.8 Factory named Huafeng Cotton Mill as the first spinning workshop, and Yong ‘an No.2 spinning workshop as the second spinning workshop, that is, the eastern part of Wenchuang Garden in 1919.
Work permit of Guomian No.8 Factory
In 1953, Guomian No.8 Factory built a staff residential building and a new workshop on the north side of Yifang. The building was of brick-concrete structure, with light yellow walls and red tiles, and wooden doors, windows, stairs and floors inside. Although the building was not high, it only had three floors. Compared with most old bungalows nearby, the new workshop became the workers’ new village with the best living environment and conditions in Wusong area in 1950s. In front of it is a spinning auditorium, which has a big stage. In addition to holding conferences, festivals also play movies for employees. On the west side, there is a spinning dining hall, Sashido, and Songxing West Road Primary School and a spinning kindergarten. On the east side, Zhouqiao Primary School was built in 1962. The house number is No.101, Songxing West Road, and the teaching building is a three-story building facing south. There are dozens of families living in the easternmost part of No.1 Textile Company. This area is called Changdong Village, and to the south is Changhou Village. A tall chimney stands at the angle between the two villages, which is one of the landmark buildings of No.8 National Cotton Factory. Everyone calls it the big chimney. The 19th of each month is the day when wages are paid by the No.8 National Cotton Factory. As the wages of textile workers are relatively high, it is just dawn in the morning. From the East Village of the Big Chimney Factory to the back door of a spinning mill, stalls have been filled on both sides of the road on Songxing West Road, and many small vendors have come from Shanghai to catch the first bus, just to occupy a favorable position earlier. Small traders prepared needles, thread, daily necessities, odd pieces of cloth, and children’s products, so shouts and counter-offers came one after another that day, and it didn’t end until all the workers on the regular day shift got off work at five or six in the evening. There is also a big football field in Yifang.Also known as a spinning grassland, whenever summer night comes, there will be staff to show open-air movies for everyone.
Group photo of master and apprentice of Class B before spinning in No.8 National Cotton Factory.
(Photographed on May 20, 1965)
Erfang built its new workshop at the back door, and there is a children’s primary school of Guomian No.8 Factory on the north side of the new workshop, which is the predecessor of Sidong Primary School today. Up to now, there are nearly 30 buildings built in different historical periods in the Second Textile Area, which has become not only Wusong, but also the most complete textile industrial complex in Baoshan District. In 2023, it was included in the first batch of Shanghai industrial heritage list. My studio moved from the second floor of Building No.5 to the first floor of Building No.4 in 2023. Building No.5 was built in 1929, which was the spinning workshop of that year. Building No.4 was built in 1919, which was the weaving workshop of that year. After the completion of Building No.5, it was connected with Building No.4, which became the longest conjoined workshop in the Far East. The reinforced concrete frame structure, roof and exterior wall decoration were characterized by Baroque architectural style, which was simple and heavy, full of movement and art. The most distinctive one seems to be Building No.6, a four-story brick-wood structure built in 1919, with a strong Art Deco architectural style that blends with the traditional architectural elements of China. There is a tower in the middle, with round windows on all sides, and a single set of clocks on all sides is installed on the fourth floor. As an office building in the past, Building 6 is still an office building today, and it is occupied by Xindian Chemical Materials, a high-tech enterprise engaged in catalyst research and development, which catalyzes the old building into a new atmosphere. And every spring, summer and autumn, the old building is full of luxuriant creepers, which has become a unique and elegant scenery in the park.
In the past few months, whenever I sit in the studio in the afternoon sipping rich Pu ‘er raw tea or writing with a brush, there is always sunshine coming in obliquely through the clear glass window. Several times, I moved my chair, closed my eyes and sat in a warm halo, and it seemed to be solidified in the history of this century-old cotton mill, solidified in the one-meter sunshine of this century-old cotton mill history.
More than half a century has passed by, and the No.8 National Cotton Factory has not only made great contributions to the development of textile industry in China, but also left too many beautiful memories for textile workers. However, with the transformation of textile industry in the 1990s and the renovation and upgrading of the city in the past two or three decades, the No.1 Textile and some nearby areas have all been demolished by the end of 2023, and a new industrial highland will be built in the planning, while the century-old buildings of No.2 Textile will be renovated as old, becoming a trend gathering place of fashion culture. I can’t help but expect that in a few years, the Eastern District and the Western District will complement each other, and this once leading enterprise in China cotton textile industry will glow with more brilliant brilliance.
Peninsula 1919 East Zone of Wenchuang Garden after Future Completion
Brief introduction of the author
Tang jihui
Tang Jihui is from Baoshan, Shanghai. Member of Chinese Writers Association, director of Shanghai Writers Association, vice chairman of Baoshan Writers Association, visiting professor of Tongji University, member of China Calligraphers Association, president of Baoshan New Federation, vice chairman of Baoshan Youth Federation, vice chairman of Baoshan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, member of Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, etc.