798 Art Village

On Saturday we visited the 798 Art Village, which is located about a half hour away from campus. The 798 complex was the city of factories built by the Soviet Union after World War II. When the Chinese government wanted to tear down the factories, a bunch of contemporary Chinese artists came in and turned the entire village into a collection of contemporary art galleries. There are also a whole bunch of cafes and coffee shops and almost all of the art was for sale. Visiting the 798 Art Village is also completely free.

One of the coolest things about the trip however, was that our program advisors invited several Chinese students who also go to Beida to come along with us for the day. We met a student named Jacky who is studying law at Beijing. What I found most interesting about Jacky’s studies at Beida is that he has spent more time studying the American Constitution than Chinese law. Jacky’s English was pretty good. The only phrases that he wanted to learn more about were English colloquialisms.

A few of us went out to lunch with Jacky at the 798 Art Village. In Chinese culture, since it was his idea to grab a bit to eat, he wanted to pay for the entire meal for all seven of us. Of course we didn’t let him do this, but it was a major cultural difference that I am picking up on.

Overall, the art at 798 was pretty cool. It was all really modern and contemporary. For example, in one gallery there was a bunch of light bulbs just scattered across the floor. In another more traditional gallery there were paintings of each of the animals that represent the Chinese new years, which were pretty cool to look at. My favorite gallery was actually one of the last ones we saw that looked like the factory did many years ago. A lot of the machines were still in position on the floor and there was a lot of Communist propaganda painted as a border around the ceiling. Towards the back of the room they had a gallery of pictures taken by a female photographer that attempted to make a visual connection between prostitution and the Feminist Movement in China. This is definitely something I plan to discuss with Dr. Wu on Wednesday.

The 798 Art Village was so big that there was no way we could see everything in just on day. Perhaps when the weather gets warmer, I will jump on the subway for another day visit!