798 Art District
From Rock in China Wiki
798 Art District
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General Information
"798" is located in the Dashanzi area, to the northeast of central Beijing.It is the site of state-owned factories including Factory 798, which originally produced electronics.
Beginning in 2002, artists and cultural organizations began to divide, rent out, and re-make the factory spaces, gradually developing them into galleries, art centers, artists' studios, design companies, restaurants, and bars.
It became a "Soho-esque" area of international character, replete with "loft living," attracting attention from all around. Bringing together contemporary art, architecture, and culture with a historically interesting location and an urban lifestyle, "798" has evolved into a cultural concept, of interest to experts and normal folk alike, influential on our concepts of both urban culture and living space.
History
The history of Beijing 798 Art Zone starts with the industrialization of new China. The area occupied by Beijing 798 Art Zone today was once the place for Beijing North China wireless joint equipment factory (namely, 718 Joint Factory) built during the first five-year plan, which was ratified by Premier Zhou Enlai in person and constructed with the help of former Soviet Union and East Germany under the leadership and guidance of Minister Wang Zheng. The Joint Factory was designed to be built in the area of Jiuxian Bridge in 1952 when there was no industrial foundation at all, and constructed from 1954. Some national leaders attended its starting ceremony and declared its production upon opening. With the warm concern and efforts of the leaders of older generation, it was accomplished at a rare fast speed at the beginning of national construction. Along with the foundation of 718 Joint Factory, factories No.774 and 738 were also set up in Jiuxian Bridge at the same time. The three factories not only changed the surroundings of this area but also led the fast development in the history of Chinese electronic and industrial fields, which had been kept with honor in the history. 718 Joint Factory contributed a lot to national economic construction since built, especially to the development of electronic industry, national defensive building and communication industry. In the April of 1964, the organizational system of 718 Joint Factory was repealed and the factories of 706, 707, 718, 797, 798, and 751 under the direct leadership of national engineering department were accordingly established.
718 Joint Factory was one of the 165 key projects in the first five-year plan and was also one of the projects aided by the countries of socialism camp. Due to its leading position in electronic industry, East Germany was bestowed with the construction of 718 Factory. At that time, the vice-president of East Germany, Oelssner led the project in person and finished it with technology, experts, equipment and product line of the whole East Germany. Since there were not factories of the same size in East Germany, Oelssner organized a post-project aiding team of 718 Joint Factory with the authority and experts from 44 institutes and factories in East Germany, and accomplished the great project of Utopia finally with all efforts throughout East Germany. The first director of 718 Joint Factory, Mr. Li Rui once recalled in an article: “Among more than 20 factories I have visited in East Germany, no one can match this one. As far as I’m concerned, factories of this size are rare even in Soviet Union and other countries of the socialism camp.”
The designing task of the Joint Factory was in the charge of a German architectural institution, which lied in the same city with Bauhaus school at that time and they two shared the same architectural spirits. Bauhaus school was built by Gropius in Weimar in 1919. Under the influence of abstract art, a new kind of industrial art style and architectural style were invented, whose main characteristics are meeting the practical demands; bringing the technical and aesthetic property of new materials and new structure into effect; designing simply and composing pictures vividly with flexibility. Based on these features, new style of modernism architecture was formed which proposed to adapt to the need of modern industry and life and emphasized the function, technology and economic interests of architecture. That is what later called Bauhaus.
The Joint Factory is of typical Bauhaus style with perfect combination of practicality and concision. Germans pursued high standard of quality in the architecture of the project, for example, the intensity design of shaking-resistance was over 8 degrees while the standard was only 6 to 7 degrees in China and Soviet Union then; No.500 construction bricks were used to guarantee consistence; the windows of factories were designed northward which took full advantage of daylight and reflecting light to maintain the equality and stability of beam when most windows were southward at that time, and furthermore, the consistent light created a sense of beauty beyond words from visual perspective.
The former six factories of 700, 706, 707, 718, 797, and 798 were reorganized and incorporated into Beijing Sevenstar Science and Technology Co., LTD in December, 2000. Sevenstar Group was one of the first hi-tech enterprises in Beijing as well as in the borough of electronic city. For the Electron City planned to re-programming the 718 yard, part of Sevenstar’s industry were moved out .In order to make better use of the empty house properties , Sevenstar Group had them rented out . Robert, an American running a Chinese art web station then, first rented the Muslim canteen of 120 square meters in February, 2002. Later more people in company with Robert came to appreciate the vast space and low rent here and took some workshops as their work studio or demonstration space one after another. Thus the “snowball” of 798 artists rolled bigger and bigger. Because of the typical modernism Bauhaus style of some factory buildings, the orderly-planned courtyard and the distinctive architectural style, more artists were attracted to settle here and formed the present 798 Art Zone gradually.
as taken from the 798art.org
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