Baoji Industrial Heritage Museum Opens.
Simply referred to as the ‘Cave Factories’, the site, built in the period 1940-1941, was commissioned to be renovated and preserved as a memorial to the endeavour to protect factories from the Japanese bombing missions. Many factories were moved from the East of China to the Western regions. Chongqing also has a number of factories that were transferred into man-made caves, out of site from the air, but the largest cave factory site was in Baoji. See an earlier article from the early days of planning for more detail about the scale of the factories here.
Rewi Alley played a significant role in the relocation of factories to protect them from the destruction during the Anti-Japanese War. Baoji then became the working headquarters for Gung Ho at that time. Rewi Alley is commemorated for his work in the displays. Formally called the Baoji Changle Yuan Anti-Japanese War Industrial Site and Gong He Northwest
District Exhibition Hall, it was decided in 2016 to undertake this project. From empty tunnels to a reconstruction complete with set up of old machinery and displays of the history, this site will now be part of the tourist attractions in Baoji, and in preserving history. Some of the old equipment has been tidied up and returned into the tunnels. The main industry was a cotton mill from Wuhan. It will in fact be a must see on the NZCFS Long March and 20th Century History Tour planned for September 2021. For more information on these tours, visit here.
