Dashanzi Art District
Dashanzi Art District ( Chinese 大山子艺术区 , pinyin Dashanzi Yìshùqū ) is the informal name of part of the population Community Dashanzi (大山子社区) in road district Jiuxianqiao (酒仙桥街道) of the Beijing municipality Chaoyang where a thriving artist community in the midst since 1995 Building of an old factory site in the Bauhaus style . The area, which was formerly used by the military, has become a colorful, trendy district with many artist studios and galleries, whose tendency towards commercialization is now viewed as problematic by some.
The quarter is often referred to as District 798 or Factory 798 , although this is just one of the buildings of the former Factory Group 718 . The complex is located between the connecting streets 2 and 4 of Jiǔxiānqiáo Lù (酒仙桥 路), south of the Dàshānziqiáo (大山子 桥) elevated road .
The establishment
The Dashanzi factory complex originally emerged as an extension of the “Socialist Unification Plan” of military-industrial cooperation between the Soviet Union and the newly founded People's Republic of China . In 1951 , as part of the first five-year plan of the people's government, 156 projects of the factory network had already been implemented on the basis of this agreement. The needs of the People's Liberation Army for modern electronic equipment, which was only produced in two of the factories, could not yet be met. The Russians were unwilling to undertake another project at the time and suggested that the Chinese contact the GDR , from where the Soviet Union imported a large part of their electronic equipment. In 1951 , on behalf of the then Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, a delegation of Chinese scientists and engineers set out for East Germany and visited several factories. In the spring of 1952 there was then the green light for the cooperation and a preparation team was sent to East Berlin to work out construction plans. This joint project - the largest between China and the GDR - was unofficially known as Project No. 157 at the time.
The architecture was left to the Germans, who preferred a functional design with Bauhaus influences to the more ornate Soviet style and thus triggered the first of numerous disputes between German and Russian consultants for the project. The plans ( form follows function ) called for large interiors to enable maximum use of natural light in the workplace. Curved sections of the ceiling, sloping diagonally on one side, gave the roofs their characteristic sawtooth look. Despite Beijing's northern location, all windows face north, as the light falling from this direction casts fewer shadows.
A 640,000 m² area in Dashanzi was chosen as the location, at that time still a piece of low-lying farmland northeast of Beijing. The complex was to occupy 500,000 m², 370,000 m² of which alone were for the workers' quarters. It was officially named Fabrikenverbund 718 , following the Chinese government's method of starting the names of military facilities with the number 7. The initial budget of 9 million rubles (around 140 million yuan renminbi or 14 million euros today ), which was enormous at that time , was entirely raised by the Chinese side.
In April 1954 the groundbreaking took place. The construction phase was marked by disagreements between Chinese, Soviet and German experts, which one day even led to a six-month delay in the project. The Germans received the sharpest criticism from the Russian technology advisor, who was responsible for the two Beijing electronics factories (714 and 738) built by the Soviets, who also held a post as senior advisor to the Telecommunications Industry Department of the Second Ministry of Mechanical Engineering. The disputes mostly revolved around the high but very expensive quality standards of the Germans, which the Russians described as "over-engineered". Among the points of contention was the insistence of the Germans, based on historical seismic data, to secure the buildings against earthquakes of magnitude 8 on the Richter scale, while the Russians and Chinese were satisfied with magnitude 7. The head of the news industry in the Chinese Ministry of Defense, Wang Zheng, was on the side of the Germans from the start and supported their approach.
At its peak, more than 100 East German experts were working on the construction project. More than 22 of their factories contributed the resources. At the same time, the enormous pull of the Soviet Red Army on East German industrial production caused supply bottlenecks. The equipment was brought directly to Beijing Central Station via the Trans-Siberian Railway , from where it was transported via a specially built 15 km long railway line to the Eastern Railway Station near the construction site. The United States-trained scientist Dr. Luo Peilin (罗沛霖), former chairman of the preparatory group from 1951 to 1953 and later chief engineer during the construction phase, is described by his former colleagues as a devoted perfectionist, whose commitment played a major role in the success of this obstacle-ridden project.
Exhibitions (selection)
- 2005: Beijing Calligraphy Exhibition , in the Must be Art Center , involved among others Liu Bolin .
- 2006: Gray and Red
- 2006 Demolish China , 751 factory
- 2006: Red Star, Red Star, Red star
- 2006: Beijing View Exhibition , Ner Art Project
- 2007: Off Center Generation - Post-1970s Group Exhibition , Factory 751
- 2007: Review exhibition of Chinese Performance Art Photos , Ying Gallery
Web links
- Side of hall 798 (Chinese / English)
- 798 Art District, hip Beijing (Focus, November 12, 2014)
Coordinates: 39 ° 59 ′ 20.6 ″ N , 116 ° 29 ′ 16.6 ″ E