798 Art District

Converted East German-built electronics factory in northeast Beijing, now China's most established contemporary-art district.

The 798 factory was built in the 1950s by East German architects as a military electronics plant. Production wound down in the 1990s, and from 2002 the bauhaus-roofed industrial halls were occupied by artists. UCCA Center for Contemporary Art is the institutional anchor; dozens of commercial galleries, plus cafes and design shops, occupy the surrounding warehouses. The neighbourhood quality has shifted toward fashion and merchandising over the years; it remains the most concentrated contemporary art zone in the city.