A suburban Beijing town draws artists from overseas

American artist Sridhar Ramasami has it all: A wife, a child and a gallery of his own in Songzhuang, a small town on the outskirts of Beijing.

The 50-year-old first came to Songzhuang as a backpacker six years ago.

"I had just come from visiting Shandong, Gansu and Jiangxi provinces, but the artistic atmosphere in Songzhuang was by far the best," he recalls. "This is a paradise for artists - free, dynamic and inclusive."