Kunming 871 Cultural and Creative Factory

In 1958, workers at the Yunnan Heavy Machinery Plant poured concrete and raised the steel frames of what would become a cornerstone of southwestern heavy industry. Today, this 43-hectare site at No. 871 Longquan Road in Kunming is known as the 871 Cultural and Creative Factory. Its name preserves the city's landline telephone area code.

The physical remnants of the industrial era define the landscape. Towering concrete chimneys rise against the sky, while overhead pipelines trace paths between red-brick and grey-tile factories. On the ground, rusty crane tracks, giant metal gears, and decommissioned Liberator utility trucks rest in the open air, their weathered surfaces showing the passage of decades. The deafening roar of heavy machinery has given way to quiet contemplation.

In 2016, planners initiated a "cage-to-bird exchange" strategy to repurpose these idle spaces. The 150,000 square meters of factory buildings now house modern enterprises. Inside the high-ceilinged workshops, the original structural steel supports new functions. At the Jiuliangji Bookstore, a towering bookshelf rises over ten meters, built directly into the metal framing where heavy machinery was once assembled. Nearby, the Kunming ACE Car Culture Park occupies 100 mu of the site, utilizing 50,000 square meters of preserved workshops for automotive exhibitions and leisure tourism.

Human activity continues to shape the park. Students from local universities walk through the 4,000-square-meter Quan Square, photographing the "Quan" sculpture made of three cars shaped like ancient spade coins. Musicians perform at regional festivals, their rhythms echoing off the old brickwork that once muffled industrial noise. The site remains a living record of Kunming's labor, transition, and cultural life.