 riving past Macao Road, by the Suzhou River in Shanghai, from a distance, you can see a big signboard that reads: “Chunming Art Industrial Area.”
 This huge signboard is on the top of a workshop at Building 6, No.50 Moganshan Road. Under the sign board, is an emerging art community, filled with over 120 galleries and art studios. This new arts district was once a textile mill. Now, people call it “Moganshan” or “M50.” Just like the 798 Art Community in Beijing, M50 is a blossoming arts district that now is the center of Shanghai’s art scene.
Art collectors come here. Tourist buses also come. And a Belgian princess has been here too.
If you want to know something about contemporary art in Shanghai, “M50” is the place to come. Some of the city’s best-known artists work here, like Zhou Tiehai, Ding Yi and Xu Zhen, all of whom have participated in Venice Biennale. There are also galleries, like ShanghArt, Eastlink Gallery and Biz Art.
Zhou Tiehai, the artist best known for his satirical works and Joe Camel paintings, has a 200 square meter studio here. “It’s too hard to find a big house for my studio, so I moved here.” Zhou said.
Ding Yi, who has made a career painting elaborate crosses, chose a corner of this area for his studio. “At No 50 Moganshan Rd., Artists can create, exhibit their works, and communicate with people inside and outside. I think I’ll stay here, until I can’t.”
 Through the small gate that leads into No.50 Moganshan Rd., you can walk into what appears to be a busy art market. On smaller, out of the way streets, there are more artist studios, mostly small ones. Big workshops in the area are mostly occupied by design companies and galleries. Newly-opened western-style restaurants seize the entrance of the busy section; old houses are transformed into stylish dining rooms. The first floor of Building 4, for instance, is divided into several small spaces, which are rented by young artists. The works are of varying degrees and abilities, but all of them are marked with prices listed in US dollars. Less famous artists might take their chance to find the shortcut to success.
Abandoned workshops are often popular with artists and gallery owners because of the cheap rent and the open ended architecture. No.50 Moganshan Rd. was once the Chunming Slub Mill. Over ten old workshops have experienced enormous changes in last century: The Japanese aggression in China, the War in the Pacific, the emergence of a “New China,” and the reform of small and mid-sized corporations. But the textile mill stopped production in 1999. Other old factories around here were dismantled for real estate development. And Chunming Mill was not an exception. It is the power of art to bring new life to the old workshops. Xue Song, a Shanghai artist, was the first to move into M50. After that, the other artists, like Ding Yi, Qu Fengguo, Wang Xingwei, opened their own studios here.
 ShanghArt Gallery, which was set up by a Swiss-born director, Lorenz Helbling, followed the artists here. Helbling chose the staggered floor at Building 16 as an artwork storehouse and exhibition space. Building 16 used to have an installed boiler. But after renovation, its open and tall space makes it the perfect environment to store contemporary art works. “We moved to Moganshan in 2000. At the beginning, we just treated it as a storehouse, and the factory owners had no idea what a gallery was,” says Zhu Yuwen, the manager of ShanghArt. “But now, they come here to get to know the artists and their artworks. They also often bring other people to visit, and they tell them the background of the artists and their works.”
With all kinds of art exhibitions and promotional activities done by galleries and art organizations in Moganshan, M50 has become a important symbol of Shanghai’s modern culture. In the span of just a few years, the workshop owners who once knew little about art and now seeing art as a magic weapon to save the abandoned workshops. In the factory’s office, art magazines are piled onto the staff’s table. Workers who were once only interested in textiles can now say something about renowned artists. According to some sources, the landlord of this area offered very cheap rents to several well known artists and arts organizations in order to build up the reputation and visibility of the Moganshan area.
 Now, the entire arts district houses over 80 artists, galleries, graphic design offices, architectural workshops, media companies and environmental art design companies from places like England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Israel, Canada, Norway, and Hong Kong.
In the new workshops, there are painting dealers, design companies, clothing and furniture shops. Business organizations do not hesitate to offer big money to get into this wonderland. The offering price of rent has risen from 0.4 RMB (6 cents) per square foot per day to 4 RMB (or 50 cents). Art brings not only repute but also enormous economic benefits to M50.
 To live or to destroy, this is a question M50 has to face. The existence of the community is an incredible syntheses. No.50 Moganshan has earned its reputation in the name of art. But the threat of dismantlement is like the sword of Damocles to M50. Moganshan is an isolated island for bashing, standing on a lonely building site. Along the Suzhou River, where Moganshan is located, huge real estate projects are rising. Opposite the art district, there is a newly built luxury neighborhood. The old Shanghai flour mill, which once sat next to Moganshan, has been dismantled. Now, a bulldozer is waiting outside the gate of the art community. The community shows its ability to grow through cement: galleries continue to move in and spend a lot money to improve their exhibition spaces; advertising agencies and design offices, furniture shops and cafés are settled down here. It is like fire and ice inside and outside the art district. In a way, the arts community matches Don Quixote's determination. One day, this might become a memory of old Shanghai, but today, it’s fresh and lively.
Translated by Wei Ying
Photos by Token
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