In China, there are many records of the practice of making and producing sugar. A process that started by exposing sugarcanes to the sun to make "Shimi" (an unrefined processed by-product of sugar made by the ancient Chinese people using sugarcane pulp), and another one called"Shatang”. These sugar production techniques had been documented since the Qin (221-207bC) and Han (206 bC-220 aD) dynasties.
During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 aD), the sugar industry, that started originally in India, was introduced to China via the Silk Road. That is why its production and use has gained an extensive development in China.
In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 aD), China pioneered the production of granulated sugar, the one we most commonly consume now, by decolorizing the pastes through a process called “yellow mud water decolorization”. This technology was introduced to the rest of the world along with the sugarcane trade later on.
The story of sugar in Guangzhou
Favourable climates for sugarcane growth had been propelling sugar production in Guangzhou. A city famous for its sugar production, that have characterized this Chinese city since ancient times.
Before the introduction of machinery into the Guangzhou sugar making in, oxes used to do most of the work, by pulling a stone mill that was used to squeeze the sugarcanes to produce juice that was then boiled in pots and transformed into sugar.
During the Ming (1368-1644 aD) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911 aD), handmade sugar in Guangzhou was the first to be marketed domestically thanks to its well-developed trade system and exported to overseas markets, something made easy by Guangzhou’s busy port.
The development of the sugar industry witnessed the growing use of sugar in the daily lives of the Chinese people, thus, unique customs that used sugar or celebrated it were formed.
A typical example is the "sweet plum", used in the wedding ritual.
Traditionally, the bride uses sugar to turn sour plums into sweet ones, symbolizing the “turning of her life”. After marriage it will become sweeter and harmonious. Also Ginger alcohol, made by boiling ginger with cane sugar and storing it in a jar, is part of a ritual to celebrate and bless the birth of a newborn.
For Guangzhou people, sugar is not just food, it’s part of their culture.
In 1934, European instruments and technologies were introduced to Guangzhou. During that time the Shitou Sugar Plant was founded, one of the first large-scale mechanical sugar plants in China’s mainland.
Since then, sugar making in Guangdong has gradually changed from being made “by hand” to a fully mechanized production.
The Shitou Sugar Plant survived the Second World War, witnessed the following restoration and reconstruction of the city, embraced the glory of the 1980s, and finally terminated its sweet business of sugar production at the end of the 20th century, leaving behind vacant industrial buildings to be replaced by the phenomenon of urban regeneration.
Today, the land where the Shitou Sugarcane plant stands has long been free of noises from the machines. Weeds growing rampant around the alcohol workshop built with European technology is the only legacy left, a testament to its past.
The rise and fall of the plant are closely related to the lives of its workers and their following generations. Chen Yi, a veteran of this sugar plant, could not hide his pride when talking to me about its glory. He wasa worker in this plant from its heyday to its recession and finally its demolition.
Today, he still lives in the nearby employee apartment building provided by the plant. It is not only a place of work for him, but also a warehouse full of memories.
The fate of another sugar plant in Guangzhou, is a completely different story.
The Zini Sugar Plant, built in 1953, was the first large-scale sugar plant independently designed and commissioned by the People’s Republic of China after the country’s founding.
This factory was also born in splendor, witnessing the industry’s ups and downs: from its glory and to its recession at the end of the 1990s. It stopped all sugar production afterwards.
Fortunately, the plant was not demolished. At the beginning of the 21th century, the once deserted plant was transformed into a creative industry park for innovative technologies, traditional handicraft, cultural creative industry, art education, and leisure industries.
If you observe the plant from the other side of the Pearl River, you can find the layered industrial landscape, with docks along the river, stacked sloped roofs and towering chimneys pointing to the sky. Walking into the plant, it overwhelms you with its massive industrial buildings, and you will feel daunted by its compelling visual impact.
The main buildings of sugar production, including the wharf, refining workshop, press workshop, power generation workshop, packaging workshop, and sugar warehouse, are still well preserved.
These buildings are all connected by a rail system. Some of the buildings are still a living testament of the transferring of technological knowledge from Europe to China.
While walking through these plants, you can almost recreate the scenes and memories of the sugar-making process in your mind. Against the powerful and solemn backdrop of the massive plant buildings, chimneys, and extended pipe tracks.
The decades of work of these sugar plants reflect the ideals and beliefs of all the generations of industrial workers who shouldered their social responsibilities, strived to do the best for their community and had a “go- getter” spirit.
These scenes of communal working and living in these sugar plants instilled a deep sense of identity and belonging to all the people of the communities built around them. In addition to sugar workers, residents in Guangzhou have a high regard for sugar. Branded sugar and beverage products have been a collective household memory for several generations of this city.
Although the "sweet cause" is now the past for Guangzhou, the heritage left behind by the sugar-making industry it's a living testimony of the attachment of the workers of these industries and city-dwellers. A real extension of sweet memories for this city.
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