BEIJING, April 21 (Xinhua) -- Half a century ago it was a workshop churning out bullets and guns in the Chinese capital city. Now it has turned itself into an international community housing galleries, salons, art shops and cafes and it is even called a Chinese type of New York's SoHo.

    Known as "Factory 798," or more commonly "798," the factory in the the city's northeastern Dashanzi suburb of Beijing, will be in a brighter spotlight by hosting the opening of the fourth Beijing Dashanzi International Art Festival on April 29.

    Artists from more than 40 countries and 150,000 visitors are expected to gather for the gala with the theme "Beijing/Background", featuring exhibitions including the visual arts, music, dance and drama.

    "The festival will help open some artistic forms to the public and let the whole society appreciate the experience," said Thomas J. Berghuis, an artist from the Netherlands, who is here for the festival.

    798 has attracted about 400 "permanent artist-residents," including 40 from Germany, France, Great Britain, the United States, Italy, Belgium, Japan, and other countries. In addition, about some 100 overseas Chinese artists have returned to set up arts shops here.

    They can be seen in galleries, salons, studios, exhibition centers, design companies, restaurants, cafes, and bars inside the former ordnance factory that has been rented out, divided, and renovated into many sections, including "Now Time," "798 Space" and "Ren Club."

    ART SPACE AIMED AT THE WORLD

    The present Dashanzi Art District, which centers around and can be represented by 798, has become a new rising art and culture community in Beijing.

    "The soul and charm of a city is determined by the city's atmosphere of human culture. Therefore, 798 is a lot more than a landmark building to Beijing," said Prof. Yang Dongping, of the Beijing Institute of Technology, who specializes in city culture studies.

    798 is actually a large compound no different from any other Chinese factories, surrounded by commonly seen bustling streets, residential and commercial buildings, and it is architecturally simple and honest, emphasizing utility.

    However, its former workshops' massive ducts and bright windows are unique in the city's landscape. Its halls were built with aid from the former Soviet Union in the 1950s, with the then East Germany providing architectural and industrial design.

    Even today, obsolete political slogans from Chairman Mao's era can be seen on the factory walls, strongly contrasting with the modern oil paintings and sculptures on display in terms of time, space, and taste, and also reminding visitors of traces of 798 as a former ordnance factory.

    In the late 1990s, a group of Chinese artists, bored with the enclosed spaces among the high-rise buildings in downtown Beijing, turned to the abandoned ordnance factory, opening up a new space for artistic creation and later leading to the formation of a new art district.

    City authorities ordered the demolition of 798 in early 2004, but it survived due to appeals by a group of artists led by Prof. Li Xiangqun, of the School of Fine Arts with the prestigious Tsinghua University.

    CORE ZONE OF INTERNATIONAL ART

    "798 is not only a showcase of contemporary Chinese art, it may also evolve into a core zone of international art, like Soho in New York," said Li, also a lawmaker in Beijing.

    The Beijing municipal government decided to preserve, protect and develop the art district, and it has also listed Dashanzi as one of the six "original culture" bases in Beijing.

    "The government's attitude toward Dashanzi shows its respect for the artists' creative space and individuality, and it will help foster respect for culture among the general public," said permanent artist-resident Jean Pierre, a French painter.

    A growing number of foreign tourists are including Dashanxi on their tour schedules of Beijing.

    "Dashanzi is my first cultural stop in my tour of Beijing. It is a fascinating place with a very strong artistic ambience," said Vincent Craps, from Nice in the south of France.

    A guidebook published in France highly recommended a visit to Dashanzi, he said.

    With its growing fame and popularity, 798 has evolved into a cultural phenomenon, arousing interest among the whole community.

    "I've been there with my girlfriend several times to enjoy the trendy and avant-garde works of the artists. You can have quite a different experience and feeling different from the noisy streets or formal office buildings," said a young local resident surnamed Wang.

    Apart from the modern oil paintings, sculptures, and other artistic works, you can even buy old grey pictures, including the portrait of Chairman Mao, and old cassettes that will bring you to the last century from the "artist-peddlers" inside the 798 compound.

    On the streets outside the compound, local residents are always stopped by visitors from elsewhere and asked how they can get to 798, another indication of its rising popularity.

    However, Tsinghua's Li also expressed worries about its future, as the rent increased along with its fame, excluding many artists.

    "For artists, their work is more than a business," he said. Enditem