10:08, April 28, 2009

Leaderette: In recent years, around the eastern part of Beijing, many artist studios gradually emerged. The place where many painters reside is known as "the Artist's Village". Among which, "798" is an old factory transformed by artists, "22 Court Street" is an art street in the CBD area, and the Kwan-yin Hall is a gallery built by the government. Groups of Chinese and foreign artists gathered in these "villages", especially young artists. They are regarded as the "incubators" of contemporary Chinese art, culture and creative industry. From this day onwards, we are going to introduce a few of these typical art areas.

798 are three numbers which have been endued with the connotation of art. In 2006, the Beijing Municipal Government listed 798 as one of the first batch of cultural and creative industry areas. In January 2008, 798 was selected as one of the six major attractions during the Beijing Olympics.
798 is located in the Dashangzi area of northeast Beijing, it is the former site of the state-owned 798 factory. Around 2002, this place with its unique architectural style and low-cost rent was discovered by some Beijing artists. After being reclaimed again an again, these old factories have gradually been transformed into the unique art exhibition and production areas, which form a unique art village.

Early in the morning at 798 Art District, the rusty pipes and slogans from the "Cultural Revolution" era appear to be serene and ancient, while large French gallery windows and a set of steel sculptures in different forms suddenly brings you back to reality.
In front of the towering chimneys and factories, newlyweds are taking wedding photographs. At the exclusive exhibition of Chinese painting by the Wanshou creation society of North Korea, a tourist is indulging himself in front of a landscape painting called "Wave hit midstream". At a cultural relic's exhibition with the theme "Let the art disappear" at the Forbidden City, an old man is standing still carefully appreciating the work.
At 798's artistic creativity plazas, a foreign tourist is fascinated by the graffiti on the wall, and is taking photos.
Wu xijun, vice-minister of the propaganda department in Chaoyang district said, "the 798 Art District had international character from the very start, which established a theme of pure contemporary art and meets with international culture without any language barrier.