Standing on the north bank of the Desheng River, the Shunde Sugar Factory commands attention through its sheer industrial scale. Built in 1934 under the direction of military governor Chen Jitang, this facility introduced mechanized sugarcane processing to China. Czech engineers from Škoda Works designed the heavy-duty structures and supplied the original machinery, establishing a foundation that would earn the site its title as the father of Chinese sugarcane manufacturing.

The surviving buildings—the sugar-making workshop, the pressing workshop, and two massive warehouses—reveal the raw functionalism of early twentieth-century industrial design. Inside the main workshops, thirty-two massive steel I-beams, joined by round-head rivets, support large-span roof trusses. The walls are constructed from hollow red bricks bearing the stamps of historic kilns like 'Yong' and 'Henan Xiaogang.' Visitors can still see the original steel crystallizer boxes and the towering 9.9-meter molasses storage tanks, preserved exactly as they were during the factory's operational peak.

For decades, the rhythmic hum of these machines defined the local economy. By the 1980s, the factory processed up to 6,000 tons of sugarcane daily, generating nearly forty percent of Shunde’s total tax revenue. Fleets of boats once crowded the riverfront docks, unloading raw cane and carrying away the famous 'Liuhua' cube sugar and 'Yinhua' white sugar to markets across the globe.

Today, the site is undergoing a careful transition from an abandoned industrial relic into a public cultural space. The original factory floors now house museum exhibitions detailing the region's manufacturing history. Outside, the harsh concrete grounds have been softened by ecological restoration, featuring cherry blossom trees and winding pedestrian paths. In a nod to the factory's iconic skyline, modern 3D printing technology will recreate one of the original eighty-meter smokestacks as a public observation tower. This ongoing evolution ensures the Shunde Sugar Factory remains a central gathering place, shifting its output from industrial sugar to community memory and cultural exchange.