Art from industry

Beijing is experiencing a renaissance of the arts, thanks in part to the utilization of its former industrial base. Chen Nan reports

Beijing's old and decaying factory buildings are getting a new lease of life. Following the success of 798 art district, former factories and warehouses are being transformed into art spaces and creating a renaissance in arts and culture.

Here is a group of artists who are helping to pique the taste of Beijingers with their bold visions and commitment.

Long Long: The One

It's almost midnight and the opening night of The One, a two-floor venue for live music that accommodates 500 people.

On stage are folk musicians Lao Lang, Gao Xiaosong and Ye Pei, with their live bands.

They jam up a storm with a succession of heart-warming folk songs from the early 1990s that earn hoots and cheers from the audience, as late Friday on Dec 11 becomes early Saturday.

"I believe there's a type of music for every person if they take the time to listen, so we try to provide a home for that," says the owner, Long Long.

A producer, and guitarist with jazz band Tuan Jie Hu Groove, Long came up with the idea of his own venue four years ago.

"We had performed around the country and the conditions of the venues were so disappointing," Long says. "Either the equipment or the environment were not professional enough. So I decided to do it myself."

He found his venue with the help of the transportation department.

"It was shabby when I saw it for the first time. I liked it because it is was not very big and was hid among some high buildings, which made it a cozy and private environment," he says.

He invited his long-time friend Percy Laws, an architect and guitarist, to join in the venture.

They took the idea a step further by adding three recording rooms and a mixing room behind the live house. Long says the focus on live music and live recordings distinguishes The One from other venues.

A graduate from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, who studied viola from the age of 4, Long has a vast appetite for jazz, rock, pop and folk. He was also the founder of rock band Baojiajie No 43.

"I know there are other live house venues in Beijing, but The One could turn out to be the purest place to hear music, not simply a place to hold concerts or commercial performances," Long says.

"Beijing has a gigantic music scene but people haven't formed the habit of paying for live music. They are prepared to pay a lot on dining, but what about music?"

Long has worked with many musicians during the past decade and he says live performances are key to communicating with listeners.

"Some say the music industry is dying because no one buys CDs today. Everyone's turning to the Internet. But live music is unique."

The One is the first and biggest live venue in 718 Good Loft, a newly-developed creative hub, which is 12,000 sq m and located near Gaobeidian, between the eastern Fourth and Fifth ring roads.

Renovated from a factory built in 1957, 718 Good Loft aims to fire up the live music scene in the capital.

Since 2006, Chaoyang district government has laid out plans to develop Gaobeidian, an area along Tonghui River, into a cultural and creative enterprise zone.

An extension of the central business district, more than 10 creative industry projects have been developed in the area, with an investment of 1.5 billion yuan ($220 million).

The One received strong government support, Long says.

Xu Fei: Dream Park

A new theater called Dream Park, opened by Xu Fei, is a vivid testament to the ambitions of China's hottest contemporary artists.

Planned in 2007 and opened in 2009, the high-ceilinged 7,000-sq-m space is adorned with Chinese antiques and museum-quality floors. It is colored black and white, gray and red, and there is also a landscaped garden that contains authentic Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) relics.

A successful arts venue must be versatile and appeal to a wide spectrum of the community rather than suit the interests of a few, Xu says. Therefore, it is a place where visitors can immerse themselves in traditional Chinese culture, from a Song Dynasty tea ceremony, with Chinese dishes, to Shi Fang (十方), a play that shows the four seasons and explores the meaning of life.

"The common factor to successful venues around the world is that the audience expects it to be a life-changing experience every time they go," Xu says.

Dream Park, in Caochangdi art village, by the Fifth Ring Road, comprises 7,000 sq m of dining rooms, meeting rooms, a drama theater and an art gallery.

After 20 years of researching traditional Chinese culture and watching the evolution of the country's theater scene, Xu says the flip side to wanting new things is the erosion of old traditions.

Xu produced the Tibetan drama Qomolangma (珠穆朗玛) in 1999, and in 2001 he wrote the dance drama Dynamic Yunnan (印象云南).

He says he dreams of taking traditional Chinese arts to the world and for the play Shi Fang he borrowed from Chinese ethnic groups such as the Dai and Naxi.

"China has a big cultural identity that is on the brink of being lost. Keeping the traditional alive is what the Park is all about."

Chou Shangli: Jing Yuan Image Base

When 40-year-old commercial photographer Chou Shang-li came to Beijing from Taiwan a year agohe found the studio of his dreams Jing Yuan Image Base, located near the east Fifth Ring Road in Chaoyang district.

"It's the perfect time to be in Beijing, to bring variety to this creative industry," says Chou who has collaborated with fashion magazines like Bazaar and has taken pictures of celebrities like actress Zhang Ziyi, as well as shooting ads for Coca Cola and Panasonic.

"Beijing has that combination of possibility and opportunity, as well as being a city with a profound cultural base in its own right," says Chou, who owns two photo studios at Image Base. "There is still a hunger and openness for new things, so there's room for people like me."

Chou says that before choosing Image Base, he also visited places like the 798 art district. "The rent is too high now which means that the market is asking for more art space. Image Base is relatively new and the visual theme of the area is good," he says.

Image Base, which was renovated from an old cotton factory, is home to more than 100 workshops and artists working in mainly visual media.

"We have a clear theme for Image Base which is different from 798 art district and other creative industry zones in Beijing," says Hu Aihua, a real estate developer and the vice-president of Image Base. "The good thing is that the government is paying attention to the capital's art zones."

The project, which covers 100,000 sq m, was started in 2006 with an investment of more than 80 million yuan. As a photography enthusiast, Hu says the opening exhibition about the Sichuan earthquake gave the base a real start after months of preparation.

She says she hopes Image Base will be comprehensively developed.

"Creative art zones such as 798 and Songzhuang were spontaneous, while the new zones are more organized and well-planned. It is not a competition. The country needs more of these kinds of areas to diversify and promote the development of creative industries in China."

(China Daily 12/28/2009 page10)