  98 is not only a number. It also stands for a new cultural landmark in the northeast part of Beijing. It was originally a product of socialist cooperation between China and East Germany, intended to boost electronics production in China. As a state-owned workshop, Factory 798 has played an important role in many formidable technology projects. It was also the industrial site where China's first atomic bomb was developed.
But now, the Bauhaus-style factory area is a booming new arts district attracting attention from around the world. Located on the outskirts of the city, near Beijing's international airport, it's now an icon of the Beijing art world.
The social transformations the 798 Art District has undergone over the years have followed China's cultural changes. In 1952, the Third Plant of Huabei Wireless Equipment United Factory was constructed. The huge Bauhaus-style buildings were designed by East Germans, in a rare style for China at the time. They occupied 120,000 square meters, with a total area of over 90,000 square meters. After construction, more than 10,000 industrial workers who had to undergo background checks found jobs in the factory district. They both worked and lived in the complex, forming a micro society which provided mess halls and kindergartens for children of the factory workers. The facilities even had their own separate train track.
After the 1980s, however, China began to reform and open to the outside world. With industrial regulation, the 798 Factory area began to lose its functionality. Once, as many as 20,000 workers occupied the site. Soon, little over 1,000 remained to continue working.
 Although the original workers are now gone, there are reminders of the Factory's history, like the tall white poplar trees and the walls covered in Cultural Revolution slogans.
New life came to Factory 798 when the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing's leading art school, moved to Wangjing Huajia Di, near Factory 798. The staff and students were looking for large studios to work. And they found this abandoned space by chance. Because the rent was cheap, other professional artists and art organizations moved in, producing a kind of cultural renaissance.
During the 2003 Beijing International Biennale, several peripheral exhibition took place at 798, attracting international visitors and helping the area gain visibility in the art world. The name "798" achieved notoriety. The New York Times called it the "SoHo of Beijing." Hosting an increasing number of international shows, 798 has since become known in the West as a Chinese cultural landmark.
The East Village, 798's predecessor, had a less commercial edge. But like 798 it was a significant site for Chinese contemporary art. Once home to many of China's famous artists and significant art happenings, the East Village was demolished in the late 1980's, allowing 798 to appear historically pre-eminent.
 Beginning in the 1980s, Chinese contemporary artists were finally entering mainstream consciousness, although not the mainstream market. A few in the area were successful. Zhao Bandi, a performance artist and one of the first to locate his studio in the 798 district, was also the first owner of an Alfa Romeo Cabrio in Beijing, and he appeared in films with his car.
While the artists were beginning to make a living, art was moving from being performance oriented, to being more object oriented. After Beijing's turbulent decade of performance art, more artists turned to painting, sculpture and photography as expressive mediums, which they could also make a living from. As more and more art became consumable, commercial galleries, restaurants, design firms, magazine publishers, coffee shops and clothing stores also appeared. Tourists started coming just to see art, which was still immediately accessible as many of the artists opened their studios, adjacent to exhibition spaces, open to the public. For this reason, many artists, hoping to gain more international attention, followed the wave of creativity to "798". The area is now also know as "Dashanzi."
The attention hasn't always been conducive to productivity. Artist Shi Jinsong says, “One time, I was crouching over the ground observing my work. All of a sudden, I found I was ringed with people looking at my work over my shoulder. I was so frightened I fell to the ground. After that, I began to close my studio door.” Shi now rents another studio near 798, and treats the studio located in 798 as a lounge to entertain friends in his art circle.
 Recently, many foreign galleries have opened in the 798 arts district, such as Tokyo Art Projects from Japan, and Galleria Continua from Italy. Some have even spread rumors that the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation would found a new museum at 798. However, there was also a rumor that Qi Xing Group, the real estate management firm, had plans to take back the area for real estate investment. The news created much debate, but Qi Xing Group kept silent in the uproar.
With great efforts from professors at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, artists and the art followers, this year Beijing City Government officially announced that the art district would receive recognition for its advanced improvement of contemporary art in Beijing. Shortly thereafter, the Guy & Myriam Ullens Foundation, which has one of the world's largest collections of Chinese contemporary art, decided to open a museum in the area with the help of its director, Fei Dawei. The Ullens collection is currently housed in Switzerland.
With official support from Beijing, many feel confident about putting time and money into renovating and decorating their spaces at 798. "We rented a new space - more than 1,000 square meters at '798'" says Cheng Xindong, director of Cheng Xindong Space for Contemporary Art. And the Qi Xing Group suggested that although most of the workshops had been rented, there are still a great number of art organizations and business on the waiting list.
 Artist Huang Rui, who has contributed much to the cultural evolution of the district, now seldom accepts media interviews. Beginning in 2003, he and his friends hosted the annual "Dashanzi Art Festival." The First Annual Dashanzi Art Festival was not looked on favorably by the management of the Qi Xing Group. But in 2006, the festival, called "Beijing / Background," attracted over 100 Chinese and overseas contemporary artists working in every medium. Huang Rui and his friends have pushed the "798" onto a wider art stage.
There is even a touch of optimism about the future of the "798" among artists, galleries and the media. For the red-hot Chinese contemporary art market, Factory 798 has become a center of consumption as well as a stage for parties. 798 is also home to the media set, including Time Out’s Beijing headquarters, Elle Magazine's editorial offices, and several other creative service companies.
In the summer of 2006, Paul Smith, the British menswear designer, famous for his striped shirts, hosted a fashion show at "798." Super models, famous entertainers and sports figures, also artists whose prices are rising rapidly, attended the party. On 798’s stage, art is in harmony with fashion. No doubt, the Olympic traffic in 2008 will bring even more attention to the famous district.
Translated by Wei Ying
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