DSCN0400 _ Industrial Museum of China, Shenyang, 5 September 2013
Industrial Museum of China in Manchurian Shenyang
Last September, when I returned to my home city, Manchurian Shenyang, I visited the Industrial Museum of China, located in the Tiexi District, which was the industrial quarter of Shenyang and the heart of the heavy industrial in China since 1910s through 1980s, when the changing demographics and economy model left the district behind, culminating in about 75% unemployment rate in 1990s in that district, whose population's plight was documented by a heart-retching documentary, Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, recording the decline of the district and the consequences on its once proud industrial worker residence. Now, though largely through controversial land deals, the district came out of the deep depression, a visit to the museum still brought mixed feelings to many people in Shenyang - nostalgia, sadness, anger, resignation, and reasonable or unreasonable hope and pride.
DSCN0400 _ Industrial Museum of China, Shenyang, 5 September 2013
Industrial Museum of China in Manchurian Shenyang
Last September, when I returned to my home city, Manchurian Shenyang, I visited the Industrial Museum of China, located in the Tiexi District, which was the industrial quarter of Shenyang and the heart of the heavy industrial in China since 1910s through 1980s, when the changing demographics and economy model left the district behind, culminating in about 75% unemployment rate in 1990s in that district, whose population's plight was documented by a heart-retching documentary, Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks, recording the decline of the district and the consequences on its once proud industrial worker residence. Now, though largely through controversial land deals, the district came out of the deep depression, a visit to the museum still brought mixed feelings to many people in Shenyang - nostalgia, sadness, anger, resignation, and reasonable or unreasonable hope and pride.