Ansteel Museum and No. 1 Blast Furnace

At No. 1 Huangang Road in Anshan, a 71-meter-tall iron giant pierces the roof of a modern museum. This is the No. 1 Blast Furnace, a 2,000-ton monument of steel and brick. Built originally in 1917, it first breathed fire on April 29, 1919. Two years later, on November 16, 1921, water leaked into its core, causing a massive explosion that tore through its bosh. The furnace fell silent, remaining cold till August 1945.

In 1949, Chinese workers reclaimed the ruined structure. They cleared the debris, repaired the damaged shell, and coaxed the furnace back to life by June of that year. For decades, the furnace roared, fed by a 56-meter-high inclined charging bridge, a 34-meter-high hot blast stove, and a 41-meter-high downcomer pipe. When technological shifts forced its decommissioning in August 2005, engineers refused to let it rust. Between October 2005 and March 2006, crews dismantled the entire 2,000-ton structure, transported it, and reassembled it at its current home.

Today, the furnace stands integrated with the No. 2 Sintering Workshop, a brick-and-steel facility built in 1955. Inside, visitors walk alongside the massive No. 4 Sintering Machine, a 75-square-meter Soviet-designed unit commissioned in 1957. The air carries the faint, dry scent of aged iron and brick. In the lobby, the 36-meter-long "Steel Soul" relief depicts the physical struggle of the workers who built this industry. Outside, a 55,000-square-meter Steel Theme Park holds historic steam locomotives and heavy transport cars, their cold iron surfaces open to the elements.

Now recognized as a National First-Class Museum, this site preserves over 10,000 items and 400 national cultural relics. The towering furnace, once a site of intense heat and dangerous pressure, is now a quiet space for reflection. Visitors can touch the cold steel plates, tracing the weld lines left by workers who rebuilt the nation's industrial foundation.