Hangzhou has recently announced the third batch of 10 Hangzhou Humanistic Experience Sites for International Exchange across the city. Located in urban areas, villages, historical sites, and nature reserves, they offer international visitors easy, engaging ways to understand Hangzhou through culture, ecology, technology, and everyday life.
The Grand Canal Hanggang Park, located on the foothill of Banshan in Gongshu District, adjacent to the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal. As a core node of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park’s landmark projects, it draws upon the canal’s waterway resources and profound historical heritage to form a natural corridor for cultural display. Redeveloped from the former Hangzhou Iron and Steel Works site, the park is regarded as a “living fossil” of Zhejiang Province’s industrial civilization. It bears the resounding memories of more than half a century of steel production while also assuming the contemporary mission of organic urban renewal.
With a total gross floor area of 550,000 square meters, the park stands as an innovative model of Hangzhou’s industrial transformation and upgrading. It successfully integrates the Hanggang Industrial Heritage with ecological greenery, creating 45,000 square meters of outdoor lawns and distinctive heritage spaces. These areas cater to citizens’needs for everyday leisure, cultural and artistic experiences, and commercial consumption. By revitalizing the memories of the “Old Hanggang” and orienting them toward a vision of “New Life,” the park has evolved into a new landmark for integrated cultural experiences in the Greater Northern Hangzhou area.
The Grand Canal Hanggang Park is a landmark example of how Hangzhou preserves history while embracing global creativity. Transformed from the Hangzhou Iron and Steel Works built in 1957—once Zhejiang’s first modern steel enterprise — now reimagined as a dynamic urban space integrating industrial heritage, digital innovation, and creative culture. Its international acclaim, including the 2024 WLA Award, underscores its global significance.
What makes the park particularly compelling is its meticulous preservation and adaptive redesign of multiple core industrial sites. The 1st blast furnace, built in 1957, has been transformed into an expansive cultural venue of over 2,000 square meters, while maintaining the original structure that once marked the starting point of Zhejiang’s iron-making era. The 2nd and 3rd blast furnaces, representing the technological evolution of steel production from the 1950s to the 2010s, also serve as key markers of industrial history.
Across the site, transfer stations, elevated conveyor corridors, gravity dust collectors, hot blast stoves, iron ladles, and machinery such as the transfer vessel and historic coke-pushing equipment are preserved in situ. Collectively, they form an open-air industrial museum that allows visitors to encounter the city’s industrial past at full scale.
The park’s four themed cultural seasons and its hosting of global events—such as Storm Electronic Music Festival and The Chainsmokers Hangzhou Concert, and fashion showcases by Vivienne Westwood and Prada—create a vibrant environment for international visitors. With English signage, spacious outdoor venues, and capacity for large groups, it serves as an ideal site for delegation visits, cross-cultural programs, and youth exchanges.
Visitors can immerse themselves in interactive activities such as the industrial-heritage train, art exhibitions, and robort experiences. These offerings position the park as a natural connector of global ideas and cultures. Complementing these experiences are curated lifestyle spaces, including cafés, bookstores, restaurants, and outdoor seating areas. Sculptures and art installations throughout the park provide continuous visual stimulation, encouraging exploration and reflection.
A visiting international student described the park as “stylish, energetic, and inspiring.” He sees it as a symbol of Hangzhou’s modernization and believes its transformation from factory to cultural park is worth promoting. He especially appreciated the emotional depth of the artworks being exhibited here and recommends it as “a representative modern attraction suitable for all ages.”
The Grand Canal Hanggang Park
Address
240 meters south of the intersection of Chenglian Street and Jiaobei Lane, Gongshu District
Opening Hours
9:00 AM-10:00 PM Everyday
Contact
0571-87800089
Source: Hangzhoufeel
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