Creating something special

Artists turn neglected neighborhoods into vibrant creative communities, Cai Hong reports in Beijing.

Huge tower standing at the center of Xiaopu village in Tongzhou district on the eastern outskirts of Beijing looks strikingly odd. From its bottom to the top are the colors of mud, brick, ceramic, iron, bronze, silver and gold that is synonymous with wealth and power.

The iconic artwork, created by the well-known Chinese avant-garde artist Fang Lijun, is believed to signify what the artists in the area are.

Xiaopu is one of 27 villages where artists including Fang live and work, among 47 villages belonging to Songzhuang town in Tongzhou 20 kilometers from downtown Beijing.

Sun Guanghua, an exponent of pop art in Renzhuang village of Songzhuang, is now metaphorically on the top of that tower after struggling in the most famous and biggest artist community in China for 30 years.

"My paintings sold well overseas for many years. Now I am set for life," the artist said with a faint look of satisfaction on his face.

Sun's sense of contemporary art started with a village in the Yuanmingyuan, or the Old Summer Palace, in the northwest suburb of Beijing. In the late 1980s the former farming village of brick huts and dirt streets became a bustling magnet for Chinese avant-garde artists who could rent cheap accommodation from local residents and hope to sell their artwork in Beijing's growing foreign community.

Painters, sculptors, musicians and poets worked and lived in cluttered huts, sharing meals and partying until late. Cultural figures such as Mang Ke, Bei Dao and Chen Kaige — later a prominent filmmaker — held literary salons at the Yuanmingyuan village.

Sun was attracted to this Bohemian-style existence in this artist commune. "I was so fascinated with how the artists did there that I frequented the place when I studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in the 1980s," he recalled.

Sun was assigned to Beijing University of Agriculture (BUA) in 1987 when he graduated from CAFA. "I didn't have a big teaching load at the BUA, and its climate was relaxed," Sun said. "But I couldn't stand attending all the sessions and meetings."

Transitional time

In 1993, the artists were not allowed to stay in the Yuanmingyuan area. They learned of Cui Dawei, Xiaopu village's Communist Party secretary, who said artists were welcome.

Songzhuang was in a state of virtual penury at that time. Its energy-consuming foundry businesses went bust one after another in the aftermath of an industrial park being built in the town. Seventy percent of the factory buildings were abandoned.

Young farmers left the rural part of Songzhuang for cities to make a living, leaving 46 percent of the residential houses vacant.

Some artists started to either rent a farmer's house as their studio or purchase a piece of disused land to build a studio. The first group of artists moving to Songzhuang included the contemporary art heavyweights such as Li Xianting, Yue Minjun and Fang Lijun.

By renting land to artists, local residents could make up to 10 times their annual income, according to Cui.

The artists also helped pay for road building, street lighting and tree planting. Villagers eventually embraced them.

Sun resigned from his job at Beijing University of Agriculture in 1998, moving from downtown Beijing to a house he rented in Songzhuang.

"He had my back when he decided to move to Songzhuang,"Sun's ex-wife Zhang Xiaoyun said. "I know that artists prefer to stay in a community of their counterparts."

"At that time, the local villagers took us as social outcasts living far from hometown. They had no idea of what artists do," Sun said."Chinese artists were marginalized. They were fringe members of society."

He bought a vacant lot in Renzhuang village in 2004 and built a large studio that he is still using.

"We have a freer way of life here, listening to our own heart and exploring the artistic way to express ourselves truly," Sun said.

The life of local residents in Songzhuang has been changed. Some of them are working for artists as cleaners or construction workers. Others have opened restaurants or shops catering to the artists.

"But artists live in their studios, not necessarily hanging out with the villagers. Studio or working space is their living room as well as salon and showing space," Sun said.

Festival origins

The first inauguration of Songzhuang Art Festival in 2005 was a roaring success, winning both domestic and international praise and recognition. Since then, the events have been held annually and have strengthened the already famous reputation of Songzhuang as being a unique phenomenon of artists and art lovers in China and abroad.

Now it is a vibrant community of an estimated 7,000 painters, poets, filmmakers, calligraphers, photographers and musicians. "It is open to everyone as long as he or she can survive here," Sun said.

Wang Bo, a 36-year-old artist painting with acrylics and taking photos, is one of the recent arrivals who also want to try their luck in Songzhuang. When painting, he attempts to find a link between his contemporary artwork and ancient Chinese landscape painting.

Wang is still climbing the artistic ladder.

He worked at an art training institute in Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi province after graduating from Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts in 2012.Following in the footsteps of his college mates one year later, he came to Beijing for more inspirations for artistic creation.

"I was bored with what I was teaching at the training school. I did almost the same thing day in and day out," Wang said.

He quickly settled down in Songzhuang's Xiaopu village, renting a studio for painting and a house for living.

"Compared with other artists' communes in Beijing such as Caochangdi and 798, the artist colony in Songzhuang is more affordable and convenient for artistic creation," Wang said.

Caochangdi developed into a thriving arts and cultural hub in Beijing when artists began to move into the area in 2000, attracting international attention similar to the nearby 798 Art Zone. He attributed Songzhuang's appeal to artists to the "whole industrial chain support"."We have everything we need here. Painting medium, framing, picture mounting and delivery; you name it."

With the dramatic influx of artists and demand for working and living space artists, much construction is underway in Songzhuang's villages.

Xiaopu village committee raised money for building the Songzhuang Art Museum, which was open to the public in October 2006. It is the first village-run gallery in China.

Art dealers and investors have been building museums and galleries in Songzhuang. They offer the artists more space to show their artwork. In the 4-square-kilometer artist community in Songzhuang, there are 35 museums that cover more than 3,000 square meters respectively, 220 galleries and 5,000 studios.

Reaching people

Still, live streaming has made great strides in the community. A base where art pieces are live sold via the Chinese short-form video hosting service Douyin, the Chinese counterpart of TikTok, was in operation in Songzhuang in 2021.

For Qian Lingping, who produces traditional Chinese painting, Songzhuang is a community in which artists can know about "the developments at the frontiers of art". Qian has been in the community for 10 years.

She hailed the live selling as "an opportunity not to be missed" as it helps artwork reach many people in one go. She has found a large online market.

Things are looking up in Songzhuang.

The Beijing municipal government declared Songzhuang a "cultural industry base" in 2006.Art-related businesses were enticed by cheap land, bringing revenue. Studios, galleries and other structures continue to mushroom out of the surrounding countryside, filling local government coffers.

In 2015, Beijing announced that it plans to gradually relocate some non-capital functions of the municipal government to Tongzhou, which would serve as the capital's subsidiary administrative center. According to Beijing's ambitious plan, 400,000 to 500,000 people will move from the capital's central areas to Tongzhou by the end of 2035.Its permanent population will be kept within 1.3 million residents.

"The mammoth project will have a huge effect on Songzhuang, or to be more exact, the artist community," Sun said.

Prices rising

As studios and houses increase in price, some artists have moved to Yanjiao in neighboring Hebei province. Yanjiao is a low-cost alternative for people wanting large living and working space that is still within convenient reach of Beijing.

Zhang Haitao, an art critic and curator, has lived in Songzhuang since 1999. He is worried that rapid urbanization will push up land and house prices in the artist community. As a result, it will not be affordable for newcomers.

Meng Jingwei, head of Tongzhou district, said the authorities of Songzhuang are helping the artists stay.

"The artists deserve respect and assistance. More should be lured to have a hand in the development of the town, in which its cultural milieu will be improved."

Songzhuang authorities have rolled out nine projects that are expected to improve the living and working conditions of the art community. The infrastructures include an outlet of Sam's Club -Walmart Inc's high-end membership retail unit, a workshop for young artists, a creative hub for auto art, and low-cost housing.

Fancy and arty as it is, Songzhuang is not appealing to Hu Zhongsheng, a CAFA trained artist producing classical oil painting. He turned his nose up at the artist community in Songzhuang.

Hu taught oil painting at a school in Beijing after graduating from the CAFA in the 1980s."Songzhuang is a mixture of good and bad artists," he said."It is a temporary haven where those who try to duck out of their problems and difficulties in their life can dream an artist's dream, release their personality and extend their individuality."

Contact the writer at caihong@chinadaily.com.cn