Dasheng Cotton Mills. [Photo/ntjoy]

Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province started renovating the Dasheng Cotton Mills to better showcase the achievements of Zhang Jian (1853-1926).

Zhang, a renowned industrial magnate, educator, and scholar in Nantong, established the mills in 1895, and their output used to account for 11.9 percent of the nation's total number of spindles.

The renovation project includes structural strengthening, roof repair, wall renovation, and wood component renovation. More material objects, photos, and words related to the Nantong native will be showcased at the mills after the project is completed in six months.

A workshop of the Dasheng Cotton Mills. [Photo/ntjoy]

The Dasheng Cotton Mills include 12 buildings, four of which, including the bell tower, cotton cleaning workshop and the library of Nantong Textile School, with a total covered area of more than 3,830 square meters, will be repaired.

The 500-square-meter cotton cleaning workshop, which was designed by a designer from the United Kingdom, has a ventilation system and still operates to this day.

Old photo shows the cotton cleaning workshop at the Dasheng Cotton Mills. [Photo/ntjoy]

In 2006, the Dasheng Cotton Mills were listed as part of the sixth batch of cultural relics under State protection, and in 2018 the mills were listed among the second batch of National Industrial Heritages by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.