Huangshigang District 黄石港区

History

Chinese Wikipedia records that in the late Ming and early Qing this was the only port between Jiujiang (九江) and Wuhan (武汉), and that the name Huangshigang, 'yellow stone port', comes from the yellow colour of the rocks at the landing. The Hubei Cement Works (大冶湖北水泥厂), founded in 1907 by the industrialist Cheng Zufu (程祖福) with the backing of the Huguang viceroy Zhang Zhidong (张之洞), began production in May 1909 using German rotary kilns, and the district and the Huangshi Daily describe it as the start of modern cement making in southern China. In July 1927 He Long (贺龙) made the works' office building the headquarters of his Twentieth Army while it trained here, and on 20 July the troops sailed from Huangshigang towards Nanchang.

What to see

The old cement works is now the Huaxin 1907 Cultural Park (华新1907文化公园). It keeps the imported No. 1 and No. 2 wet-process kilns, the No. 3 'Huaxin-type' kiln, which went into production on 1 July 1977 as the first large wet-process rotary kiln designed and built by a Chinese company itself, along with the overhead conveyor gallery, giant raw-material silos and century-old red-brick sheds. The district government also names the Ci Lake scenic area, Dazhongshan Forest Park (大众山森林公园), Chaoyang Pavilion (朝阳阁) and the Little Red Building (小红楼). With three lakes, Ci Lake, Qingshan Lake (青山湖) and Qinggang Lake (青港湖), and the hills of Dazhongshan, Fenghuang Hill (凤凰山) and Panlong Hill (盘龙山), the district has long been called 'half hills, half lake'.

Getting oriented

As Huangshi's commercial centre, the district holds the Jiaotong Road pedestrian street (交通路步行街), rated a provincial pedestrian street, and city-listed night-time shopping and dining quarters at Moer City (摩尔城), the Huaxin park, Zhonglou (钟楼) and Wuhan Road (武汉路). Chinese Wikipedia names the Huangshi Yangtze River Bridge among its transport links and notes that the city's Workers' Cultural Palace, Children's Park, Qingshan Lake Park and museum are in the district.

Highlights

• Huaxin 1907 Cultural Park 华新1907文化公园: Former cement works founded in 1907, keeping its three wet-process kilns, silos and red-brick sheds.
• Ci Lake Scenic Area 磁湖风景区: Lake on the district's western side, named by the district government among its landscape sights.
• Jiaotong Road Pedestrian Street 交通路步行街: Rated a provincial pedestrian street.