Now, following the national development specifications and standards on industrial tourism released by the China National Tourism Administration, Shanghai has announced its first batch of 18 municipal-level cultural-industry parks in 2005. The number has hit 128 this year.

As the market expands, the administration has announced a three-year plan to have 100 national industrial-tourism-demonstration sites and industrial-heritage-tourism offerings by 2020. It aims to attract 240 million visitors and generate 30 billion yuan in revenue annually.

Shanghai's government has released its strategy to become an industrial-tourism base, while developing four areas: services, manufacturing, shopping and culture.

He Jianmin, director of the tourism-management school at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, says: "Efforts should be made to raise public awareness of protection while finding diverse and adaptive ways to reuse industrial heritage and to preserve historical authenticity while meeting the needs of modern tourism."