factory 706 and danwei
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“Dashanzi Art District” (Hanyu Pinyin: Dàshanzi Yìshùqu) is the informal name of a part of Dashanzi in the Chaoyang District of Beijing that houses a thriving artist community, among 50-year old decomissioned military factory buildings of unique architectural style. It is often compared with New York’s Greenwich Village or SoHo, but faces impending destruction from the forces driving Beijing’s urban sprawl.
The area is often called the 798 Art District or Factory 798 although technically, Factory #798 is only one of several structures within a complex formerly known as Joint Factory 718. The buildings are located inside alleys number 2 and 4 on Jiuxianqiáo Lù, south of the Dàshanziqiáo flyover.
Construction
The Dashanzi factory complex began as an extension of the “Socialist Unification Plan” of military-industrial cooperation between the Soviet Union and the newly-formed People’s Republic of China. 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 functional Bauhaus-influenced design over the more ornamental Soviet style, triggering the first of many disputes between the German and Russian consultants on the project. The plans, where form 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 diagonaly along the high slanted banks or windows; this pattern would be repeated several times in the larger rooms, giving the roof its characteristic sawtooth-like appearance.Operation
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 factory quickly established a reputation for itself as one of the best in China. Through its several danwei or “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 the Great 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 extra-curricular 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 or jinweishi, which numbered hundreds and were equipped with large-scale weapons and anti-aircraft guns.Frequent VIP visits contributed to the festive atmosphere. Notable guests included Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, and Kim Il-Sung.
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-garde art being frowned upon by the government, the community had traditionally existed on the fringes of the city.
In 2001, Texan Robert Bernell moved his Timezone 8 Art Books (http://www.timezone8.com) bookshop and publishing office (founded in 1997) into a former factory canteen; he was the first foreigner to move in.
Through word-of-mouth, artists and designers started trickling in, attracted to the vast cathedral-like spaces. Later that year, Mr. Tabata Yukihito from Japan’s Tokyo Gallery (http://www.tokyo-gallery.com) set up Beijing Tokyo Art Projects (http://www.tokyo-gallery.com/btap/main.html) (BTAP, ????????) inside a 400-m² division 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, designer artist Huang Rui and hutong photographer Xu Yong set up the 798 Space gallery (http://www.798space.com) next to BTAP. With its cavernous 1200-m² floor 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 and de facto spokespersons 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 #6 Sichuan restaurant, the area’s “canteen”.
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, Sony had a product launch gala at 798 space, and watch-maker Omega presented a fashion show at Yan Club. Others include Christian Dior, Shell and Toyota; supermodel Cindy Crawford also made an appearance. Even Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Holdings held an event in the district, which some found unsettling given the real estate industry's designs on the land it sits on.
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashanzi_Art_District"