On the opposite side of Yat-sen Lake Park, the old metal signboard “Zhongshan Elevator Industry Company” is still clear and readable.

Zhongshan Elevator Industry Company, which began as a metal structures plant, was founded in 1956. The company became one of the first approved elevator manufacturers in 1986 and started to produce elevators since then.

“The signboard is in good condition, but the location is no longer used as a factory of elevator.” Said Li Zongzuan, former staff of Zhongshan Elevator Industry Company. In 1995, the world’s leading elevator manufacturer ThyssenKrupp was introduced into Zhongshan and started in-depth cooperation with Zhongshan Elevator Industry Company. Three years later, Zhongshan introduced another Global Top500 Mitsubishi. Since then, the city’s elevator industry confronted with rapid development.

At present, 80% of elevators are made in China. Zhongshan as the national elevator industrial base occupies over 10% of the domestic production with mature technologies such as face recognition.

Reportedly, Zhongshan-based major enterprises of elevators and relevant components mainly distribute in South District, Torch Zone, Wuguishan District and Shenwan Town. South District accounts for 85% of the city’s elevator production.

In 2015, South District was upgraded to “national-level elevator production base”. It has gathered more than 60 elevator and supporting enterprises including two world’s top500 ThyssenKrupp and Mitsubishi. It has a complete industrial chain covering elevator design and R&D, production and assembly, logistics and marketing, installation and maintenance, and education and training.

On November 9 this year, NETEC (Guangdong) Elevator Safety Risk Assessment Base settled in Zhongshan. It is the second Zhongshan-based national testing center after National Luminaires Quality Supervision Testing Centre (Zhongshan).