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State of the Art

Beijing's 798 art district, a cultural landmark in what was once a secret military factory complex, has gotten a facelift for the ongoing Olympic Games. Located in the Jiuxianqiao area in Chaoyang district, the art district recently got Chinese-English road signs, professional foreign language guides, a tourist service center and an official website at www.798.org. Gone are the days of no streetlights, no taxis, no parking lots and no public toilets. The district has finally been upgraded by the government to match its role as an art hub of some 400 galleries, design studios, exhibition spaces, shops and restaurants.

Contemporary sculptures, abstract paintings, performance art and fashion shows are all housed within 798 art district.

With its mottled red-brick walls, gigantic Bauhaus-style factory workshops and Mao-era slogans, the 798 art district surpasses even the Forbidden City as the most popular tourist destination with more than one and a half million visitors last year, according to the latest government report.

Abstract contemporary sculptures stand beside big rusty machinery, and fashion shows are held in the spacious former workshops. Every day dozens of exhibitions are launched and the district brings in revenues of 300 million yuan ($43 million) a year.

The prosperity of the 798 district came from years of struggle by numerous artists in the district. Quite a few times, the 798 compound was threatened by demolition and conversion into an industrial district. A few of the factory workshops were even razed.

Robert Bernell, the owner of Time Zone 8 Book Club, was among the first group of artists that found a haven in the 798 district in 2003. He remembers clearly the beginnings of the 798 district as a gathering spot for artists.

"There were these unique workshops. The rent was low, and we were able to freely create art here," Bernell recalls. He and other artists, like installation artist Chen Qingqing and performance artist Cang Xin, immediately fell in love with the place and moved their studios there. They enjoyed doing their art together, exchanging ideas and cooperating in holding exhibitions in this "Art Eden".

"People here are more open to our work and they respect us as contemporary artists," Wu Xiaojun says. "But in other places, such as Yuanmingyuan and Songzhuang, where established artists gather, our works are often not accepted."

By 2004, with more and more artists moving in, the 798 district became recognized as Beijing's new art center. The artists shared a collective dream of maintaining the compound's unique Bauhaus-style architecture and establishing a new cultural landmark there.

However, their landlord, the Seven Star Huadian Science and Technology Group, did not share that dream. The 798 factory compound once housed the Beijing North China wireless joint equipment factory, a subsidiary of the Seven-star group.

It was designed and built in the 1950s by architects from the former East Germany. The Germans came from Dessau, where they operated the former Bauhaus school Dessau plant as a design school with some architectural facilities.

Key Words

Tea   West Lake   

Temple      Su Dongpo 

zhouzhuang

Fans   Embroidery

Garden   

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