Documentary focusing on the lives of eight people affected after a thriving factory in China that provides hundreds of jobs is replaced by an apartment complex.
 
In 1958, an aeronautics and armaments factory was moved from northeast China to the deep southwest. This factory was code-named Factory ‘420’.

In 2008, Factory ‘420’ is being moved again. Its original site, a prime location in the center of Chengdu city, is a valuable piece of real estate. The location is to be redeveloped into a luxury hotel and housing complex, complete with shops and leisure facilities, under the name ’24 Cities’. The old factory buildings are being demolished to clear the site.
 
Across the personal testimonies of eight people, 24 City explores the history of this factory and the fates of those who worked in it. Their testimonies add up to an account of the China-wide shift from state ownership to private enterprise – and of the consequent change in the status of workers. Much has changed, thanks to China’s embrace of the market economy. The old factory, like China’s experiment with socialism, belongs to the past.