As a city of one hundred years of history, Shijiazhuang has faced challenges to narrate its historic identity and develop cultural attractiveness. This thesis reviews the urbanization history of Shijiazhuang, re-interprets its historic identity, and discusses the problems and potential strategies of preservation-oriented placemaking. Two parts of study are contained in this thesis: urban history and preservation planning. The history study identifies three significant characteristics of Shijiazhuang: the large number of rural population and villages that are enclosed into the urban area; the railroads that triggered the urbanization of Shijiazhuang and marked out the spatial framework of the city; and the “work unit” mode of urbanization, with workplaces and housing built together by companies or institutions. These three characters of Shijiazhuang are representative for inland Chinese cities that started their rural urbanization with colonial construction of railroads and excavation of natural and agricultural resources; and the socialist development of industrial work units after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. The planning study focuses on how these characters are recognized in local and national preservation policies and represented in placemaking strategies. Then through comparison with successful policies and strategies in other cities and countries, this study points out the potential directions of preservation planning in China, which surrounds the preservation of the recent history, living memories, and local life patterns, in order to facilitate placemaking for residents’ and tourists’ experience of the comprehensive environment.