A framework and preliminary findings for identifying cultural genes in iron and steel industrial heritage
Dan Gao
Faculty of Fine-Applied Arts and Cultural Science, Mahasarakham University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59429/pest.v8i3.15416
Keywords: iron and steel industrial heritage; industrial cultural genes; multi-case comparison; technological genealogy; qualitative research
Abstract
This study distinguishes shared features of iron and steel industrial heritage from the culturally distinctive configurations of individual enterprises. Four cases—Hanyang Iron Works, Ansteel, Chongqing Iron and Steel, and Tangsteel—Are compared through technological genealogy, production networks, historical turning points, labour organization, and enterprise–city relations. The findings show that furnaces, converters, workshops, railways, and metallic materials are mainly sector-wide resources rather than cultural genes in themselves. Distinctiveness lies in historically formed relationships connecting technology, space, events, labour, and social memory. The four cases respectively represent technology introduction and resource integration, integrated production and national industrial-base construction, wartime relocation and reorganization, and converter development combined with post-earthquake recovery. A three-stage path—Common-dimension extraction, case-relationship comparison, and multi-source verification—Is proposed for traceable identification and subsequent heritage interpretation and design transformation.
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