798 Art Zone

The entrance of the #798 Art District

798 Art Zone(Chinese:798 nghệ thuật khu;pinyin:798 Yìshùqū), orDashanzi Art District,is a complex of 50-year-old decommissionedmilitaryfactorybuildings boasting a uniquearchitectural stylethat houses a thrivingartisticcommunityinDashanzi,Chaoyang District,Beijing.The area is often called the798 Art DistrictorFactory 798although technically,Factory #798is only one of several structures inside the complex formerly known as718 Joint Factory.The buildings are within alleys number 2 and 4 on Jiǔxiānqiáo Lù ( rượu tiên kiều lộ ), south of the Dàshānziqiáoflyover( núi lớn tử kiều ). The area is anchored by the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, the largest and most visited venue in the area. In recent years, it has been the main venue for the annualBeijing Queer Film FestivalandBeijing Design Week.

Construction

798 Space gallery, January 2009. Old Maoist slogans are visible on the ceiling arches.

The Dashanzi factory complex began as an extension of the "Socialist Unification Plan" of military-industrial cooperation between theSoviet Unionand the newly formedPeople's Republic of China.By 1951, 156 "joint factory" projects had been realized under that agreement, part of theChinese government's firstFive-Year Plan.However, the People's Liberation Army still had a dire need of modern electronic components, which were produced in only two of the joint factories. The Russians were unwilling to undertake an additional project at the time and suggested that the Chinese turn toEast Germanywhere much of the Soviet Union's electronics equipment was imported. So at the request of then-PremierZhou Enlai,scientists and engineers joined the first Chinese trade delegation to East Germany in 1951, visiting a dozen factories. The project was green-lighted in early 1952 and a Chinese preparatory group was sent toEast Berlinto prepare design plans. This project, which was to be the largest by East Germany in China, was then informally known as Project #157.

The architectural plans were left to the Germans, who chose a functionalBauhaus-influenced design over the more ornamentalSoviet style,triggering the first of many disputes between the German and Russian consultants on the project. The plans, whereform follows function,called for large indoor spaces designed to let the maximum amount of natural light into the workplace. Arch-supported sections of the ceiling would curve upwards then fall diagonally along the high slanted banks or windows; this pattern would be repeated several times in the larger rooms, giving the roof its characteristicsawtooth-like appearance.Despite Beijing's northern location, the windows were all to face north because the light from that direction would cast fewer shadows.

The chosen location was a 640,000 square meter area in Dashanzi, then a low-lying patch of farmland northeast of Beijing. The complex was to occupy 500,000 square meters, 370,000 of which were allocated to living quarters. It was officially namedJoint Factory 718,following the Chinese government's method of naming military factories starting with the number 7. Fully funded by the Chinese side, the initial budget was enormous for the times: 9 millionRblsor approximately 140 millionRMB(US$17 million) at today'srates; actual costs were 147 million RMB.

Ground was broken in April 1954. Construction was marked by disagreements between the Chinese, Soviet and German experts, which led at one point to a six-month postponement of the project. The Germans' harshest critic was the Russian technology consultant in charge of Beijing's two Soviet-built electronics factories (714 and 738), who was also head consultant of the Radio Industrial Office of the Second Ministry of Machine Building Industry. The disputes generally revolved around the Germans' high but expensive quality standards for buildings and machines, which were called "over-engineering" by the Russians. Among such points of contention was the Germans' insistence, historical seismic data in hand, that the buildings be built to withstandearthquakesof magnitude 8 on theRichter scale,whereas the Chinese and Russians wanted to settle for 7. Communications expert Wang Zheng, head of Communications Industry in the Chinese Ministry of National Defense and supporter of the East German bid from the start, ruled in favor of the Germans for this particular factory.

At the height of the construction effort, more than 100 East German foreign experts worked on the project. The resources of 22 of their factories supplied the construction; at the same time, supply delays were caused by the SovietRed Army's tremendous drain on East Germany's industrial production. The equipment was transported directly through the Soviet Union via theTrans-Siberian railway,and a 15 km track of railroad betweenBeijing railway stationandDongjiao Stationwas built especially to service the factory.Caltech-educated scientist Luo Peilin ( la phái lâm ), formerly head of the preparatory group in 1951-1953, was Head Engineer of Joint Factory 718 during its construction phase. Luo, now retired in Beijing, is remembered by his former colleagues as a dedicatedperfectionistwhose commitment to the obstacle-strewn project was a major factor of its eventual success.

Operation

Joint Factory 718

Joint Factory 718 began production in 1957, amid a grandiose opening ceremony and display of Communist brotherhood between China and East Germany, attended by high officials of both countries. The first director wasLi Rui( Lý thụy ), who had been involved in the early negotiations in Berlin.

The factory quickly established a reputation for itself as one of the best in China. Through its severaldanweior "work units",it offered considerable social benefits to its 10,000-20,000 workers, especially considering the relative poverty of the country during such periods as theGreat Leap Forward.The factory boasted, among others:

• the best housing available to workers in Beijing, providing fully furnished rooms to whole families for less than 1/30 of the workers' income;
• diverse extracurricular activities such as social and sporting events, dancing, swimming, and training classes;
• its own athletics, soccer, basketball and volleyball teams for men and women, ranked among the best in inter-factory competitions;
• a brigade of German-made motorcycles, performing races and stunt demonstrations;
• an orchestra that played not only revolutionary hymns but also German-influenced classical Western music;
• literary clubs and publications, and a library furnished with Chinese and foreign (German) books;
• Jiuxianqiao hospital, featuring German equipment and offering the most advanced dental facilities in China.

The factory even had its own volunteer military reserves orjinweishi( cận vệ sư ), which numbered hundreds and were equipped with large-scale weapons andanti-aircraft guns.

Workers' skills were honed by frequent personnel exchanges, internships and training in cooperation with East Germany. Different incentives kept motivation high, such as rewards systems and "model worker" distinctions. At the same time, political activities such asMaoismstudy workshops kept the workers in line withChinese Communist Partydoctrine. During theCultural revolution,propagandaslogans forMao Zedong Thoughtwere painted on the ceiling arches in bright red characters (where they remain today at the latter tenants' request).

Frequent VIP visits contributed to the festive atmosphere. Notable guests includedDeng Xiaoping,Jiang Zemin,Liu Shaoqi,Zhu De,andKim Il-Sung.

The Joint Factory produced a wide variety of military and civilian equipment. Civilian production included acoustic equipment for Beijing'sWorkers' StadiumandGreat Hall of the People,as well as all theloudspeakersonTiananmen SquareandChang'an Avenue.Military components were also exported to China's Communist allies, and helped establishNorth Korea'swirelesselectronics industry.

One of the old machine tools in front of some contemporary art in Dec 2005

After 10 years of operation, Joint Factory 718 was split into more manageable components, such as sub-Factories 706, 707, 751, 761, 797 and 798. The first Head of sub-Factory 798 (the largest) was Branch Party Secretary Fu Ke ( phó khắc ),who played a major role in recruiting skilled workers from southern China and returnedoverseas Chinese.

However, the factory came under pressure during Deng Xiaoping'sreformsof the 1980s. Deprived of governmental support like manystate-owned enterprises,it underwent a gradual decline and was eventually rendered obsolete. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, most sub-factories had ceased production, 60% of the workers had beenlaid off,and the remains of the management were reconstituted as part of a real-estate operation called "Seven-Star Huadian Science and Technology Group", charged with overseeing the industrial park and finding tenants for the abandoned buildings.

Artistic rebirth

The Dashanzi factory complex was vacated at around the time when most of Beijing's contemporary artist community was looking for a new home.Avant-gardeart was frowned upon by the government and the community had traditionally existed on the fringes of the city. From 1984 to 1995, they worked in run-down houses near theOld Summer Palacein northwestern Beijing, until theireviction.Many then moved to the eastern Tong County (nowTongzhou District), more than an hour's drive from the city center.

Then in 1995, Beijing'sCentral Academy of Fine Arts(CAFA), looking for storage and workshop space, set up in the now defunct Factory 706.The temporary move became permanent and in 2000Sui Jianguo,Dean of the Department ofSculpture,located his own studio in the area. The cluttered sculpture workshops have always remained open for visitors to peek at the dozens of workers milling about.

By 2003, an artistic community of over 30 artists, designers, and publishers had developed. The first creatives to take residence in the district included artist Xu Yong, designer artistHuang Rui,publisher Robert Bernell, painter Li Songsong, and Beijing Tokyo Art Projects' Tabata Yukihito.

One of the first exhibition spaces, Beijing Tokyo Art Projects (BTAP, Bắc Kinh Đông Kinh nghệ thuật công trình ), was opened by Tabata Yukihito of Japan's Tokyo Gallery.Inside a 400-m²division of Factory 798's main area, this was the first renovated space featuring the high arched ceilings that would become synonymous with the Art District. BTAP's 2002 opening exhibition "Beijing Afloat" (curator:Feng Boyi), drew a crowd of over 1,000 people and marked the beginning of the popular infatuation with the area.

In 2002,Huang Rui( hoàng duệ ) andhutongphotographer Xu Yong ( từ dũng ) set up the 798 Space gallery ( khi thái không gian ) next to BTAP.With its cavernous 1200-m²floor and multiple-arched ceilings at the center of Factory 798, it was and still is the symbolic center of the whole district. (Huang and Xu since designed at least seven spaces in the area and became the prime movers andde factospokespersons of the District.) A glass-fronted café was set up in the former office section at the back of the 798 space, opening into a back alley now lined with studios and restaurants such as Huang's own At Café, and Cang Xin's #6Sichuanrestaurant, the area's "canteen".

American Robert Bernell was the firstforeignerto move in and brought his Timezone 8 Art Books bookshop, gallery and publishing office to a former factory canteen. One of Timezone 8's early employees was fashion designer Xiao Li, who along with her husband, performance artistCang Xin,and Bernell, helped artists secure and rent spaces in the area.

Through word-of-mouth, artists and designers started trickling in, attracted to the vast cathedral-like spaces. Despite the lack of any conscious aesthetic in the Bauhaus-inspired style, which grounded architectural beauty in practical, industrial function, the swooping arcs and soaringchimneyshad an uplifting effect on modern eyes, a sort ofpost-industrialchic. At the artists' requests, workers renovating the spaces preserved the prominent Maoist slogans on the arches, adding a touch of ironic "Maokitsch"to the place.

In 2003, Lu Jie ( Lư kiệt ) set up the Long March Foundation, an ongoing project for artistic re-interpretation of the historicalLong March,inside the 25,000LiCultural Transmission Center ( hai vạn năm ngàn dặm văn hóa truyền bá trung tâm ). Around that time, Singapore-owned China Art Seasons ( Bắc Kinh mùa gallery ) opened for display for pan-Asian art, and was one of several new galleries setting up at that time.

The UCCA Center for Contemporary Art was set up shortly thereafter in one of the largest factories in the complex, and after recent renovations, serves as the anchor institution and most prominent, and most visited, art landmarks in the area.

Notable exhibitions

An art gallery at 798

Severalexhibitionsof note took place in 2003. In March 2004, "Transborder Language", part of the First Dashanzhi International Art Festival, (curators:Huang Ruiand Thomas J. Berghuis) combinedpoetryinstallationandperformance art."Blue Sky Exposure" was held outdoors in southern Beijing and then relocated to the Art District. On April 13, despite widespread fear of public gatherings duringSARS,the exhibitions "Reconstruction 798" (798 space) and "Operation Ink Freedom" (25,000LiCultural Transmission Center) drew crowds of 5,000 and definitely confirmed the area's widespread appeal.

In July, with Beijing in fullconstructionboom, Wang Wei's "Temporary Space" (curator: Philip Tinari) featured workers completely enclosing an area of the exhibition with a brick wall and then removing the bricks one by one. In September, "Left Hand - Right Hand" (curator:Feng Boyi) showcased Chinese and German sculptors at 798 Space and Daoyaolu Workshop A. Among the works was Sui Jianguo's enormousconcretesculpture "Mao's Right Hand", which is just what the name suggests, and an example of modern Chinese art's ironic reflections on history.

The first Beijing Biennale was held on September 18, 2003 at the Art District and featured 14 exhibitions. "Tui-Transfiguration" (curator: Wu Hung;tuihere roughly meansmoult) featured photographs byEast Villagechronicler Rong Rong ( vinh vinh ) and his wife, Japan-born Inri ( ánh ). Their works notably featured their ownnakedbodies in various strange locales, and were generally well-received despite being criticized by some as typical of the self-centered nature of much art in the area.

The first Dashanzi International Art Festival, directed by the ever-presentHuang Rui,was held from April 24 to May 23, 2004. This first edition, namedRadiance and Resonance/Signals of Time( quang • âm / thời gian ), was beset by logistical problems arising from landowner Seven-Star Group's increasing irritation with the art community. As such, the festival became as much a public protest against the area's upcoming destruction that a showcase of art itself.

The environmental performance artistBrother Nutinstalled his project, "Nongfu Spring Market," in 798 Art Zone in 2018. A commentary onpollution in China,this project received international attention including an article inThe New York Times.One of the most (in)famous displays at the Festival was performance artist He Yunchang having himselfcementedshut in a wooden box with only two pipes forventilation,and staying there for 24 hours before being chiseled out, prompting the proverbial "Is it art?"questionings." Shock "exhibitions have become increasingly common in the Art District.

In 2008 there were notable exhibitions of foreign artists from Italy ( "Rabarama. Italian Shape", AnniArt Gallery 798,):RabaramaandCesare Berlingeri.

Gentrification

Dior in 798 Art District

The district's popularity has exploded since the opening of BTAP and 798 Space in 2002, with scores ofgalleries,lofts,publishingfirms,designcompanies, high-endtailorshops, andcafésand fancy restaurants setting up. In 2003, around 30 artists and organizations had set up studios or offices in the area, with 200 more reportedly on the waiting list to move in.

Fashionable clubs also sprang up such as Zhou Ying's "Vibes", known for itsfetishnights. A former factory cafeteria became Yan Club( nhân câu lạc bộ ), owned by well-known Beijing socialite and writer Li Xuebing or "Bing Bing" ( băng băng ), also owner ofSanlitun's Jam House. Notable performers at Yan includedMorcheebain March 2003.

In keeping with the area's "community spirit", most galleries and spaces in Dashanzi do not charge either exhibitors or visitors. Instead, they generally sustain themselves by hosting profitable fashion shows and corporate events; among others,Sonyhad a product launch gala at 798 space, andwatchmakerOmegapresented a fashion show at Yan Club. Others includeChristian Dior,Royal Dutch ShellandToyota;supermodelCindy Crawfordalso made an appearance. EvenLi Ka-shing'sCheung Kong Holdingsheld an event in the district, which somefound unsettling given the real-estate industry's designs on the land it sits on.

As such, Dashanzi is now a center of Beijing's nascent "BoBo"(bourgeois-bohemian) community.Huang Ruiand Xu Yong are good representatives of the type. A localguruof sorts is artist/curator/architectAi Weiwei( ngải chưa chưa ), whose self-designed house inCaochangdijust outside the factory complex was a trend-setter.

In the absence of anyrent control,tenants' costs have escalated. In 2000–2001, rents were 0.8 RMB per square metre per day (24 RMB or US$2.90/m²/month, or about US$0.27/sq.foot/month). They increased slightly to 30 RMB/m²/month in 2003, and then doubled to 60 RMB/m²/month (US$0.67/sq.foot/month) in 2004. Total costs can be quite high considering the average 200–400 m²area of the spaces, and the overhead ofrenovatingand retrofitting the rooms to use modern appliances.

Another sign of creepinggentrificationis the increasing number of luxury cars parked near the galleries; local artist Zhao Bandi purchased the firstAlfa Romeoconvertible in Beijing. Some (but not all) of the resident artists and their patrons are quite rich compared to other occupants of the area, the remaining factory workers. Some of the workshops are still operational on a small scale, mostly doing car repair or industrial laundry.

Some local artists such as Zhang Zhaohui, a New York-trained art critic and curator, and architect Zhu Jun, a new Dashanzi resident, have criticized the Art District as being less about art and more about show. Says Zhang: "Few of the artists come to seriously practice art. Most of them just come for opportunities to exhibit and sell works or just have parties and gatherings." (China Daily)On the other hand, young artists like Zhang Yue find this atmosphere particularly conducive to establishing one's career. In the course of one summer, Dashanzi Art District's Platform China Contemporary Art Institute and Unlimited Art Gallery afforded this rising artist two well-received solo shows.

Closure averted

In the days of Joint Factory 718, Dashanzi was chosen for its peripheral position well outside the city center. The artists who later moved there were attracted from the fringes of the city as well. However, the area today sits right on the strategic corridor between theCapital Airportand downtown Beijing along theAirport Expressway.In the context of China's currentreal estatebubble,the district is highly likely to be demolished in the near future. Hints of development are already appearing with the western entrances of the complex flanked by the Jiuxian and Hongyuan luxury apartment towers. There are all the current government projects which call for the expansion of the neighboringindustrial parkto turn all of Dashanzi into a high-tech development zone similar toZhongguancun.Landowner Seven-Star Group thus hopes to re-employ some of the 10,000 laid-off workers it is still responsible for.

Influential members of the artist community and architects arelobbyingvarious government instances to persuade them to allow the old buildings to remain, to help grow organically a cultural center that Beijing otherwise lacks. In 2003, International Architects Salon roped in architects from various international architectural associations and renowned architects likeBernard TschumiandCoop Himmelblau's Wolf Prix to help emphasize how important attractive spaces like Factory 798 are to the international design community. They point out that such communities are important if Beijing, and China, is to become a major source of creative design instead of mere low cost low value-added manufacturing. (This issue has far-reaching implications in the domain ofintellectual propertyprotection in China - some experts believe that the local IP laws will start to be enforced only when China becomes a source of its own intellectual property.)

Patrons stroll through the 798 Art Zone, Beijing, April 2009

A crucial participant in the lobbying effort is resident sculptor Li Xiangqun, professor at the Academy of Arts and DesignofTsinghua University,who was elected deputy of the 12thNational People's Congressin 2004. Li presented the municipal government with a formal bill in February, requesting the suspension of the destruction plans and preservation of the buildings as part of an Olympic-caliber cultural center.

Professors from architecture schools such as Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts and theSouthern California Institute of Architecturehave proposed various development plans for the area that involve preserving the buildings, although those do not appear especially profitable financially.

Meanwhile, attempts have been made to appeal to the developers' sense of economics by pointing out similarities with New York's Greenwich Village and SoHo, where the high profitability of real estate is due partly to the presence of former post-industrial artists' dwellings. Those arguments have so far been ignored.

In 2004, Seven-Star Group froze the rental of new spaces and prohibited all renewals. Tenants resorted to subdividing and subleasing their spaces, to which the Group responded by attempting to forbid subleasing to cultural organizations or to foreigners, hoping to drive out the artists. Tenants, despite some of them having leases still valid for several years, were given the ultimatum of December 31, 2005 to vacate the premises.

By 2006, public outcry was relentless, and prominent cultural organizations from around the world spoke up. An unlikely duo including SevenStar, a government-led consortium acting as stewards of a pension fund for former factory workers, andGuy Ullens,a Belgian philanthropist who had amassed the world's largest collection of contemporary Chinese art, commissionedBoston-based design firmSasaki Associatesto produce a vision plan which sought to re-purpose the district into a stable source of revenue while providing a much-needed destination for China's burgeoning arts scene.The plan needed to inspire multiple stakeholders with often divergent interests. First, the city government inBeijingwanted to ensure that the district would a visible and acclaimed destination. Second, the land-holder, SevenStar Group, needed to generate a sustainable revenue stream to endow the pension fund of former factory workers. Third, international and Chinese non-profit cultural institutions investing in 798 such as theUCCA Center for Contemporary Artwanted to focus on culture and protecting the district's distinctive character. Finally, residents of adjacent neighborhoods were vocal about the need for community parks, recreation, and job opportunities.

Considering these voices equally, theSasaki Associatesmaster plan for 798 endeavored to reach consensus with a long-game approach to redevelopment. Leading with clear principles and detailed guidelines, the plan was an opportunity to codify the values of the district. To address the city's concerns, connections from nearby transit stations were strengthened, historic buildings were cataloged, and guidelines for their preservation and adaptive reuse were outlined. Next, a long-term strategy for obtaining revenue from new building leases was realized. A proposed arts school, artist-in-residence program, and requirements that tenants are involved in a creative industry provided cultural institutions with a sense that 798 would attract new talent and ideas. Last, multiple parks and plazas responded to community desire for more public open space.

By the end of 2007, it was decided that the area would continue in its current format of a special art zone. In 2009, the area has been refurbished and is thriving. 798's abandoned factory buildings have been transformed into new museums, galleries, and cafes. Fallow fields and once hidden courtyards have reemerged as settings for outdoor sculpture, fashion shows, and other cultural events. The roads have been repaved, new galleries have opened, and acafe cultureis emerging. What began as a small collection of ephemeral studios and other workspaces has become the third most visited destination in Beijing, after the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

See also

• 50 Moganshan Road

Book references

• Huang Rui ( hoàng duệ ), editor (2004).Beijing 798: Reflections on Art, Architecture and Society in China(798 nhà xưởng: Sáng tạo Bắc Kinh tân nghệ thuật phố, kiến trúc, xã hội ). Hong Kong:Timezone 8/ Thinking Hands ( hiện đại hiệu sách nghệ thuật phòng sách / tư tưởng tay thiết kế ).ISBN988-97262-3-8.
• Zhu Yan, with contributions by Yin Jinan and Li Jiangshu (2004).798: A Photographic Journal..Hong Kong:Timezone 8.ISBN988-97262-7-0.
• Ye Ying ( diệp oánh ),Transmutation 798《 diêu biến 798》,New Star Press, Beijing, 2010.ISBN978-7-80225-946-1

External links

• Official website of 798 Art Zone
• Website of 798 Art District
• Xiao Changyan (July 5, 2004).End of an era?China Daily.
• Tang Yuankai (June 10, 2004).798: Beijing's Art Community.Beijing Review47(23).
• Artists find new haven(April 2003).China Daily.
• Beijing's Art Scene(July 2008).
• Bắc Kinh công xã (BEIJING COMMUNE) at 798
• Adam Lindeman,"Betting on China"in The New York Observer (June 9, 2010)
• CCII International Design Centerin 798 Art Zone
• Tanja Barnes (December, 2015)."Virtual Tour of 798 Art Zone in Virtual Reality"Roundme