Page 118 - JCAU-7-1

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Red industrial heritage: A vibrant medium

for disseminating contemporary Chinese
mainstream culture

Sunny Han Han * and Amal Zhuo Li 2
1
1 National Institute for Cultural Development, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
2 School of Marxism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

Abstract
Red industrial heritage represents historical evidence and important revolutionary
cultural relics of Chinese-style modernization under the leadership of the Communist
Party of China. It possesses distinct characteristics in terms of its temporal, conceptual,
and value dimensions. Beyond serving as a repository of media memory, red industrial
heritage functions as a vibrant medium for the dissemination of mainstream culture.
Its defining features include the “Gaze-Immersion” effect, which evokes a return to
*Corresponding author: historical scenes; the “Abstraction-Embodiment” process, which fosters material
Sunny Han Han perception; and the “History-Reality” connection, which highlights contemporary
(hanhan41@whu.edu.cn)
relevance. However, current management practices for industrial heritage often
Citation: Han, S.H. & Li, A.Z. follow the principle of “age priority,” resulting in challenges for the effective protection
(2025). Red industrial heritage: A
vibrant medium for disseminating of red industrial heritage. Furthermore, when the cultural tourism industry intervenes
contemporary Chinese mainstream in the protection and utilization of industrial heritage, it frequently emphasizes age
culture. Journal of Chinese value, location value, or esthetic appeal, while inadequately exploring and developing
Architecture and Urbanism, 7(1):
4611. the cultural significance of red cultural resources. This oversight diminishes the
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.4611 role of red industrial heritage in disseminating mainstream culture. In recent years,
Received: August 21, 2024 increased attention to industrial heritage has expanded the pathways for mainstream
culture dissemination, including conservation and renewal, intellectual property
1st revised: September 13, 2024 empowerment, and community participation. These approaches have generated
2nd revised: October 7, 2024 valuable experiences and insights into enhancing the cultural and social functions
Accepted: October 9, 2024 of red industrial heritage.
Published online: December 3,
2024 Keywords: Red industrial heritage; Mainstream culture; Dissemination; Memory sites;
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). Media memory
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-
Non-Commercial 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all 1. Introduction
non-commercial use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, Red industrial heritage represents the historical material evidence of the Chinese
provided the original work is Communist Party’s (CPC) leadership in Chinese-style modernization. It holds
properly cited. multifaceted values spanning history, economy, science and technology, art, and
Publisher’s Note: AccScience society, serving as a testament to the CPC-led journey of modernization. As a material
Publishing remains neutral with embodiment of industrialization and a key component of revolutionary cultural relics,
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional red industrial heritage encapsulates a rich repository of mainstream culture. This
affiliations. mainstream culture refers to the system of socialist core values established under the

Volume 7 Issue 1 (2025) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.4611