Eling No. 2 Factory Creative Quarter 鹅岭二厂文创街区

About Eling No. 2 Factory Creative Quarter

In the Republican era, most Chinese banknotes were printed by American and British firms; when war broke out in 1937 and China's eastern coastal cities fell under occupation, that route into the wartime rear was cut off. To solve the resulting printing shortfall, the Central Trust Bureau, a key institution of the Republican financial system, established a Chongqing printing works in the 1940s, a step Xinhua describes as a milestone in Chinese modern currency-printing history that ended foreign firms' dominance of Chinese banknote printing. In the 1950s the works was renamed Chongqing No. 2 Printing Factory; during the early years of the People's Republic it printed the grain, feed and oil ration coupons then used to control the supply of daily necessities, and from the 1950s to the 1970s it expanded into printing labels and packaging for tobacco, alcohol, medicine, food and chemical goods, becoming, in the words of the local planning bureau and Xinhua, the region's leading colour-printing works; Zhou Yong, head of the Chongqing Local History Research Association, has said it represented the domestic printing industry's highest standard at the time. The factory relocated entirely in 2012.

The renovation project formally began in early 2014 and the park opened on 2 June 2017. Renovators used a 'parasitic architecture' concept, preserving the original 1937 buildings while experimentally reworking about 30,000 square metres of factory floor space; the project's chief designer was the British architect William Alsop. A weathered sign at the old gate still reads 'Site of the Republican-era Central Bank Currency-Printing Works'. The 2016 release of the film Cong Ni De Quanshijie Luoguo, filmed on location there, brought the quarter national attention as a viral destination, and it now hosts close to 100 creative-industry brands across leisure tourism, lifestyle goods, dining, crafts and art spaces.

What to look for

• The 1937 printing-works buildings themselves, kept under the renovation's 'parasitic architecture' approach.
• The weathered sign at the old factory gate reading 'Site of the Republican-era Central Bank Currency-Printing Works'.
• The renovated factory floor space, reworked under British architect William Alsop's design.
• The cluster of close to 100 creative-industry shops and studios now operating inside the former factory buildings.

Location & getting there

Getting to Eling No. 2 Factory Creative Quarter

Choose a precise starting address and return transport stop. Access to individual buildings, performances or viewing platforms is separate from access to public streets.

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