Journal articles on the topic 'Dynasties Wei-Jin'

The graph zhi 纸 in the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern dynasties is of great significance and profound influence. The writing system during this period experienced a rapid development, leading to various script styles that met the demand of all kinds of literary forms and occasions. The development of script style is more directly related to the development of literary forms, especially written literature. Besides the development in the regularization of the writing system, the full preparation of script styles results mainly from material and social factors. Material factors refer to the change of writing media, namely the fact that paper became daily writing material during the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern dynasties, and social factors are the accumulation of family education and the social atmosphere of advocating calligraphy. The literature of the Wei, Jin and Southern and Northern dynasties has its own track of development and its particular literary forms and genres. The consideration of the development of script style and the transformation of writing media during this period will help us discover some internal connection.

Most of the existing studies on Gui-Yi, which is a kind of ancient women’s dress of China, are barely about the interpretation of Xian (ie. a long ribbon made of silk) and Shao (ie. a hanging fabric of cloth, shaped like a swallow tail, tied to the waist) of Gui-Yi, on whose origin, development and evolution of the shape and structure there are few discussions. Based upon summarizing the literature, this paper points out that Gui-Yi in Han Dynasty was originated from a relic of San-di (ie. three kinds of ceremonial dress worn by queens in The Rites of Zhou Dynasty-a classical book in ancient China on the bureaucratic establishment system of Zhou Dynasty and the system of states in Warring States Period). In the paper, Gui-Yi is divided into two kinds according to images in archaeological studies, namely, the ‘Gui-Yi in one-piece system’ (‘one-piece system’ is Chinese robe) and ‘Gui-Yi in separate system’ (‘separate system’ is a kind of suit that consists of blouses and skirts). The former was popular in Han Dynasty, and the latter was popular in Wei &Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties. The change of the shape and structure of Gui-Yi conforms to the historical trend that the ‘Gui-Yi in one-piece system’ entered a recession in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the ‘Gui-Yi in separate system’ became a popular mainstream in Wei &Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties. In addition, the paper points out female images wearing Gui-Yi in Gu Kaizhi's paintings influenced the expression of Gui-Yi image of Wei & Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, and Gui-Yi were gradually brought into immortal statues during painters’ artistic processing of that time.

Chinese garden art originates from Shang and Zhou Dynasties,drives to maturity in Song Dynasty nurtured by the renovation and development of Wei, Jin, Sui, Tang, Northern and Southern Dynasties. Affected by the situation of valuing literary talent above martial arts, Song Dynasty garden art made a great progress in the aspect of thinking, architecture, plants, rockery and layout of waters, the interests and artistic of paintings and poems became the most notable characteristic of gardens built in Song dynasty. Its space principle and aesthetics taste are totally different from the western gardens, which have a lot of features worthy to be learned and used in modern garden and urban designing of China.

This paper examines the ways in which Fuxi and Nüwa were depicted inside the mural tombs of the Wei-Jin dynasties along the Hexi Corridor as compared to their Han counterparts from the Central Plains. Pursuing typological, stylistic, and iconographic approaches, it investigates how the western periphery inherited the knowledge of the divine pair and further discusses the transition of the iconographic and stylistic design of both deities from the Han (206 BCE–220 CE) to the Wei and Western Jin dynasties (220–316). Furthermore, examining the origins of the migrants on the basis of historical records, it also attempts to discuss the possible regional connections and migration from different parts of the Chinese central territory to the western periphery. On the basis of these approaches, it reveals that the depiction of Fuxi and Nüwa in Gansu area was modelled on the Shandong regional pattern and further evolved into a unique pattern formed by an iconographic conglomeration of all attributes and other physical characteristics. Accordingly, the Shandong region style not only spread to surrounding areas in the central Chinese territory but even to the more remote border regions, where it became the model for funerary art motifs. Based on both approaches, it reveals that the depiction of Fuxi and Nüwa in Gansu area was modelled on the Shandong regional pattern and further evolved into a unique pattern of an iconographic conglomeration of all attributes and other physical characteristics. Accordingly, the Shandong region style not only spread to surrounding areas in the central Chinese territory but even to the more remote border regions, where it became the model for funerary art motifs.

Famed for his surgical expertise, Hua Tuo of the Eastern Han dynasty also excelled in a range of other medical treatments. It is rarely noted that Hua treated patients with a combination of drugs and acupuncture therapy and acquired an expert knowledge of pharmaceutics. The purpose of this article is to explore the rarely studied achievements of Hua Tuo in pharmaceutics, and further discuss the status of Hua in the history of Chinese medicine. The article points out that Hua Tuo inherited the medical achievements of past generations and strongly influenced the development of medicine during the Wei Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties.

The pattern “NP1, NP2 + shi ye”, as found in the Chinese translations of Buddhist texts in the Han Dynasty, is not a direct imitation of, or derivation from, the pattern “NP1, NP2 (Subj) + shi (Pron) ye” of the pre-Qin era. Rather, it comes from the pattern “NP1, NP2 (Predicate N) + shi (Copula)” of the Western Han, Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods. In the Chinese Buddhist translations of the Han Dynasty, “NP1, NP2 + shi” is a variant of “NP1, NP2 + shi ye”. The copious use of the two grammatical patterns in the Chinese translations is not intended to render the sentence-final copula in the original Sanskrit texts. Rather, when narrating stories that tell “the NP1 in the previous existence is in fact the NP2 in the present existence”, the Buddhist writings place a specific emphasis on the NP2 of the present existence. The Predicate NP appearing before the copula in these two patterns serves precisely that purpose. Hence, the use is most suitable for stories of this nature.

Początki naukowej myśli o sztuce i zabytkoznawstwa w starożytnych Chinach Artykuł przedstawia historię kształtowania się myśli o sztuce i antykach w dawnych Chinach, począwszy od czasów dynastii Wei i Jin po wczesny okres dynastii Song. Celem niniejszego tekstu jest prezentacja zarówno teoretycznych koncepcji na temat malarstwa i kaligrafii pisanych przez artystów i uczonych-urzędników w różnych okresach, jak również przedstawienie rodzącego się zainteresowania zabytkoznawstwem. Artykuł pokazuje, w jaki sposób studia nad teorią sztuki ulegały zmianie, osiągając większy stopień dojrzałości w połowie IX wieku n.e., tj. w momencie, kiedy Zhang Yanyuan napisał „Rejestr Słynnych Malarzy wszystkich Dynastii”, dając tym samym asumpt do kolejnych studiów nad sztuką.

王弼是魏晉玄學最重要的思想家，也是中國哲學史上不世出的天才，他以二十四 歲英年早逝，卻無礙於他的哲學成就：《周易注》被收入十三經注疏，《老子注》 則成為通行本，影響後世深遠。歷來詮釋王弼思想的成果豐碩，精彩論點令人目 不暇給，對於王弼思想的關注不限於華人社會，近期在中國出版，德國當代著名 漢學家瓦格納 (Rudolf G. Wagner) 《王弼《老子注》研究》就是海外漢學家長期關 注王弼哲學的成果。本文針對海峽兩岸研究王弼卓然有成的林麗真、余敦康，以 及歐陸的瓦格納等三人的王弼《老子注》的研究成果，歸納其進路、觀點，以及 重大創穫。林麗真聚焦於王弼玄理的闡發，余敦康則提出通貫哲學與政治整體觀， 著重王弼玄學的現實關懷，瓦格納則從語言哲學入手，提出「鍊體風格」的詮釋 策略，豐富文本的內涵。台灣、大陸與歐洲學者對王弼的詮釋有共識，也有殊異， 這樣的參照比較，不僅可以相互攻錯，擴大學術視野，也能進一步深化王弼思想、 魏晉玄學的研究，極富學術意義。Wang Bi, the most prominent scholar of metaphysics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, was an unprecedented genius throughout the history of Chinese philosophy. In this article, the author examines the brilliant contributions made by Lin Li Zhen, Yu Dun Kang and Rudolf G. Wagner, who are noticed for their research of Exegesis of Lao-Tzu. It is a synthesis of the directions of investigation, approaches, and significant findings they have come up with. Among the three interpretations, Lin focuses on the explanation of Wang’s metaphysic thinking while Yu emphasizes Wang’s secular concerns by proposing the “philosophy of thoroughness” and political holism. As for Wagner, he approaches this work with the views of linguistic philosophy and suggests refined stylistics as interpretative strategy, which functions to enrich the textual contents.

This special issue of the journal Asian Studies is dedicated to the meaning and transformation of Chinese funerary art during the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) and the subsequent Wei Jin Nanbei period (220–581 CE). The “horizontal-pit grave,” which first appeared in the middle Western Han period, marked a departure from the hitherto prevailing design based on a vertical shaft. This new form permitted the development of several burial chambers with distinct functions––a layout that would culminate in large-scale tombs with multiple chambers arranged along a central axis and flanked by side rooms and corridors. Another feature that distinguishes Han tombs from those of earlier periods is the use of brick and stone. The new horizontal-pit graves constructed from these materials provided an ideal substrate for a variety of decorations (stamped, carved or painted). These embellishments, which began to appear together with the new construction technique in the middle Western Han period, achieved their greatest diffusion during the Eastern Han period (25–220 CE). With the rapid outward expansion of the powerful Han state, accompanied as it was by the transfer of government officials and military commanders from the centre to the borderlands, the culture of the Han people, including their burial practices and tomb designs, spread to the frontier regions. As a result of the political and social disorder that characterized the latter years of the Eastern Han period, and which was accelerated by the dynasty’s downfall, the Central Plain was thrust into a state of war and turmoil, provoking even greater migration to the remote border areas in the northwest and northeast, as well as to the southern areas.

"New Accounts of Old Episodes" is a classic handed down in China, which reflects the personality image and charm of the scholars in the Wei and Jin dynasties with the original ecological narrative technique. The scholars of the Wei and Jin Dynasties were detached, facing the world with an aesthetic attitude beyond secular utilitarianism, etiquette, and real life, establish a graceful social stage of vulgarity, create a unique personality beauty, providing valuable ideological wealth for the cultivation of poetic spirit, poetic dwelling, aesthetic style, transcend personality, and wisdom.

The study of ancient city sites provides valuable evidence for understanding human-land relationships. Qinghai Lake Basin, on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, was a key location for economic and cultural exchanges between East and West in ancient China and archaeological surveys have identified the remains of many ancient cities. Although there are relatively good historical records for some ancient cities, their absolute ages are still unclear due to a lack of systematic chronological dating. In this study, OSL dating of ceramic and tile remains from three ancient cities in Qinghai Lake Basin, Xihaijun (XHJGC), Beixiangyang (BXYGC), and Fuxi (FSC), was combined with documentary and paleoclimate evidence to investigate historical human-land relationships. Relics from XHJGC and BXYGC were dated to 0–220 AD, in the Han Dynasty, while tiles from FSC were dated to 120–520 AD, largely corresponding to the Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties. Luminescence ages were generally consistent with dates recorded in historical documents, indicating that the OSL method can be reliably used to date buried tiles in ancient cities on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Comparing the dates with paleoclimatic records suggests that the warm and humid climate at c. 2 ka was an important driver of immigration to the region that led to the construction of cities in the Qinghai Lake area during the late Western Han Dynasty. During the Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties (220–589 AD), communication between East and the West flourished, and human activities in the area were strong with the continuation of the war in Central China and Hexi Corridor. Fuxi was largely abandoned in the later Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, although it was still used intermittently until the Ming Dynasty. Pollen records confirm that humans were extensively engaged in agricultural production in the Qinghai Lake area during the Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties.

AbstractSince 2011, Archaeological Team of Han-Wei Luoyang City of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences conducted coring tests and excavations to the site of Taiji Hall complex in the palace city of the Northern Wei Dynasty in the Han-Wei Luoyang City Site, by which the east half of the foundation of the main hall and that of the Taiji East Hall and the aprons, paths, courtyards, gateways, side houses and draining ditches around them were recovered, and the artifacts including bricks, tiles, tile-ends, stone slabs for paving the floor and bronze coins were unearthed. The excavations confirmed that the Taiji Hall in Luoyang was first built in the Three-Kingdoms Period and the layout of the Taiji East and West Halls flanking the main hall in the middle was also formed at that time. This layout was succeeded, rebuilt and reused by the Western Jin, Northern Wei and Northern Zhou Dynasties in the later times. This palace system and capital city planning established by the Wei Kingdom of the Three-Kingdoms Period in the Han-Wei Luoyang City were followed by the later dynasties and periods and introduced to Korea and Japan.

During his lifetime, Xun Yunchang was a professor at the School of Liberal Arts of Southwest University. He was a master tutor for two majors in classical literature and calligraphy. He has made great achievements in poetry and calligraphy. He has three identities as calligrapher, poet, and scholar, showing his profound learning and superb level. Mr. Xun's calligraphy integrates Han and Wei dynasties, and goes in and out of Jin and Tang dynasties, which is thick and steady. Through case analysis and other research methods, this article believes that Mr. Xun has made a great contribution to the cause of calligraphy in China and should have a lofty status in the history of modern calligraphy.

An important achievement of Tang Dynasty poetry was the birth of the theory of "Yijing". The theory of "Yijing" was an important category in Chinese classical aesthetics. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the theory of "imagery" had been put forward. However, aestheticians in the Tang Dynasty did not stop at "imagery". In terms of one category, it is possible to elevate "imagery" to a new category of "yijing" through the enlightenment of Chan thought, which further promoted the development of poetry after the Tang Dynasty.

AbstractThe remains of seven bridges in three groups across the Wei River to the north and northeast of the Chang’an City of the Western Han Dynasty discovered successively since 2012 filled in the blank of the archaeology of the bridges across the Wei River. Among the seven bridges, the Chucheng Gate Bridge No. 1 had huge size, which was the largest wooden structure bridge of the same period known to date. The 14C data showed that the Chucheng Gate Bridge No. 4 was built in the late Warring-States Period; the Chucheng Gate Bridge No. 1 was built in the Western Han and at least rebuilt for two times in the Eastern Han and the Three-Kingdoms Period and Western Jin Dynasty; the Luocheng Gate Bridge was built around the late Western Han through the early Eastern Han and the Chucheng Gate Bridge No. 3 was built in the Tang Dynasty. The coins of the Qing Dynasty unearthed in the excavated area of the Chucheng Gate bridges hinted that at latest in the Kangxi Era of the Qing Dynasty, the Wei River was still in the course of the Han through the Tang Dynasties, and the large-scale northward moving of the course of the Wei River would be after that period.

Confucian culture has always been the most glorious component of Chinese culture. Governing the mainstream world of China for more than two millennia, it has cast a profound and long-lasting influence on the way of thinking and cultural-psychological formation of the Chinese people. Confucianism emphasizes caring about others with benevolence and governing a state with ethics, reflecting the importance of moral principles for politics. “Ren” and “Li” are important parts of the core values of Confucianism, so analyzing the differences between them and their evolution is of great significance for further understanding Confucian culture. This paper selected 132 classic Confucian works from SikuQuanshu, a large collection of books compiled during the Qianlong’s reign of the Qing Dynasty (1636–1912), to calculate the use of frequency of “Ren” and “Li” in those books by means of big data. Then the data was analyzed to show the development trajectory of “Ren” and “Li” from the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC) to the Qing Dynasty, providing a new perspective for the study of Confucian culture. The analysis result shows that from the Spring and Autumn period to the Qing Dynasty, both the frequencies of “Ren” and “Li” record a peak and a bottom: “Ren” has its peak in the Sui and Tang period (581–907) while “Li” reaches its climax in the Wei and Jin period (220–420); both “Ren” and “Li” hit their bottom during the Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368). The average frequency of “Li” is higher than that of “Ren” during most of the time (eight dynasties and periods). In general, “Li” is more frequently referred to in classic Confucian works than “Ren,” especially in those of the pre-Sui and Tang era. The An-Shi Disturbances in the Tang Dynasty may mark an important turning point for the frequencies of “Ren” and “Li” in classic Confucian works.

Introduction: Artist Villages in Beijing Many of the most renowned sites of Beijing are found in the inner-city districts of Dongcheng and Xicheng: for instance, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Lama Temple, the National Theatre, the Central Opera Academy, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Imperial College, and the Confucius Temple. However, in the past decade a new attraction has been added to the visitor “must-see” list in Beijing. The 798 Art District originated as an artist village within abandoned factory buildings at Dashanzi, right between the city’s Central Business District and the open outer rural space on Beijing’s north-east. It is arguably the most striking symbol of China’s contemporary art scene. The history of the 798 Art District is by now well known (Keane), so this paper will provide a short summary of its evolution. Of more concern is the relationship between the urban fringe and what Howard Becker has called “art worlds.” By art worlds, Becker refers to the multitude of agents that contribute to a final work of art: for instance, people who provide canvasses, frames, and art supplies; critics and intermediaries; and the people who run exhibition services. To the art-world list in Beijing we need to add government officials and developers. To date there are more than 100 artist communities or villages in Beijing; almost all are located in the city’s outskirts. In particular, a high-powered art centre outside the city of Beijing has recently established a global reputation. Songzhuang is situated in outer Tongzhou District, some 30 kilometres east of Tiananmen Square. The Beijing Municipal Government officially classifies Songzhuang as the Capital Art District (CAD) or “the Songzhuang Original Art Cluster.” The important difference between 798 and Songzhuang is that, whereas the former has become a centre for retail and art galleries, Songzhuang operates as an arts production centre for experimental art, with less focus on commercial art. The destiny of the artistic communities is closely related to urban planning policies that either try to shut them down or protect them. In this paper I will take a close look at three artist villages: Yuanmingyuan, 798, and Songzhuang. In tracing the evolution of the three artist villages, I will shed some light on artists’ lives in city fringes. I argue that these outer districts provide creative industries with a new opportunity for development. This is counter to the conventional wisdom that central urban areas are the ideal locality for creative industries. Accordingly, this argument needs to be qualified: some types of creative work are more suitable to rural and undeveloped areas. The visual art “industry” is one of these. Inner and Outer Worlds Urban historians contend that innovation is more likely to happen in inner urban areas because of intensive interactions between people (Jacobs). City life has been associated with the development of creative industries and economic benefits brought about by the interaction of creative classes. In short, the argument is that cities, or, more specifically, urban areas are primary economic entities (Montgomery) whereas outer suburbs are uncreative and dull (Florida, "Cities"). The conventional wisdom is that talented creative people are attracted to the creative milieu in cities: universities, book shops, cafes, museums, theatres etc. These are both the hard and the soft infrastructure of modern cities. They illustrate diversified built forms, lifestyles and experiences (Lorenzen and Frederiksen; Florida, Rise; Landry; Montgomery; Leadbeater and Oakley). The assumption that inner-city density is the cradle of creative industries has encountered critique. Empirical studies in Australia have shown that creative occupations are found in relatively high densities in urban fringes. The point made in several studies is that suburbia has been neglected by scholars and policy makers and may have potential for future development (Gibson and Brennan-Horley; Commission; Collis, Felton, and Graham). Moreover, some have argued that the practice of constructing inner city enclaves may be leading to homogenized and prescriptive geographies (Collis, Felton, and Graham; Kotkin). As Jane Jacobs has indicated, it is not only density of interactions but diversity that attracts and accommodates economic growth in cities. However, the spatiality of creative industries varies across different sectors. For example, media companies and advertising agencies are more likely to be found in the inner city, whereas most visual artists prefer working in the comparatively quiet and loosely-structured outskirts. Nevertheless, the logic embodied in thinking around the distinctions between “urbanism” and “suburbanism” pays little attention to this issue, although both schools acknowledge the causal relationship between locality and creativity. According to Drake, empirical evidence shows that the function of locality is not only about encouraging interactions between SMEs (small to medium enterprises) within clusters which can generate creativity, but also a catalyst for individual creativity (Drake). Therefore for policy makers in China, the question here is how to plan or prepare a better space to accommodate creative professionals’ needs in different sectors while making the master plan. This question is particularly urgent to the Chinese government, which is undertaking a massive urbanization transition throughout the country. In placing a lens on Beijing, it is important to note the distinctive features of its politics, forms of social structure, and climate. As Zhu has described it, Beijing has spread in a symmetrical structure. The reasons have much to do with ancient history. According to Zhu, the city which was planned in the era of Genghis Khan was constituted by four layers or enclosures, with the emperor at the centre, surrounded by the gentry and other populations distributed outwards according to wealth, status, and occupation. The outer layer accommodated many lower social classes, including itinerant artists, musicians, and merchants. This ”outer city” combined with open rural space. The system of enclosures is carried on in today’s city planning of Beijing. Nowadays Beijing is most commonly described by its ring roads (Mars and Hornsby). However, despite the existing structure, new approaches to urban policy have resulted in a great deal of flux. The emergence of new landscapes such as semi-urbanized villages, rural urban syndicates (chengxiang jiehebu), and villages-within-cities (Mars and Hornsby 290) illustrate this flux. These new types of landscapes, which don’t correspond to the suburban concept that we find in the US or Australia, serve to represent and mediate the urban-rural relationship in China. The outer villages also reflect an old tradition of “recluse” (yin shi), which since the Wei and Jin Dynasties allowed intellectuals to withdraw themselves from the temporal world of the city and live freely in the mountains. The Lost Artistic Utopia: Yuanmingyuan Artist Village Yuanmingyuan, also known as the Ming Dynasty summer palace, is located in Haidian District in the north-west of Beijing. Haidian has transformed from an outer district of Beijing into one of its flourishing urban districts since the mid-1980s. Haidian’s success is largely due to the electronics industry which developed from spin-offs from Peking University, Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in the 1980s. This led to the rapid emergence of Zhongguancun, sometimes referred to as China’s Silicon Valley. However there is another side of Haidian’s transformation. As the first graduates came out of Chinese Academies of the Arts following the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), creative lifestyles became available. Some people quit jobs at state-owned institutions and chose to go freelance, which was unimaginable in China under the former regime of Mao Zedong. By 1990, the earliest “artist village” emerged around the Yuanmingyuan accommodating artists from around China. The first site was Fuyuanmen village. Artists living and working there proudly called their village “West Village” in China, comparing it to the Greenwich Village in New York. At that time they were labelled as “vagabonds” (mangliu) since they had no family in Beijing, and no stable job or income. Despite financial difficulties, the Yuanmingyuan artist village was a haven for artists. They were able to enjoy a liberating and vigorous environment by being close to the top universities in Beijing[1]. Access to ideas was limited in China at that time so this proximity was a key ingredient. According to an interview by He Lu, the Yuanmingyuan artist village gave artists a sense of belonging which went far beyond geographic identification as a marginal group unwelcomed by conservative urban society. Many issues arose along with the growth of the artist village. The non-traditional lifestyle and look of these artists were deemed abnormal by many of the general public; the way of their expression and behaviour was too extreme to be accepted by the mainstream in what was ultimately a political district; they were a headache for local police who saw them as troublemakers; moreover, their contact with the western world was a sensitive issue for the government at that time. Suddenly, the village was closed by the government in 1993. Although the Yuanmingyuan artist village existed for only a few years, it is of significance in China’s contemporary art history. It is the birth place of the cynical realism movement as well as the genesis of Fang Lijun, Zhang Xiaogang and Yue Mingjun, now among the most successful Chinese contemporary artists in global art market. The Starting Point of Art Industry: 798 and Songzhuang After the Yuanmingyuan artist village was shut down in 1993, artists moved to two locations in the east of Beijing to escape from the government and embrace the free space they longed for. One was 798, an abandoned electronic switching factory in Beijing’s north-east urban fringe area; the other was Songzhuang in Tongzhou District, a further twenty kilometres east. Both of these sites would be included in the first ten official creative clusters by Beijing municipal government in 2006. But instead of simply being substitutes for the Yuanmingyuan artist village, both have developed their own cultures, functioning and influencing artists’ lives in different ways. Songzhuang is located in Tongzhou which is an outer district in Beijing’s east. Songzhuang was initially a rural location; its livelihood was agriculture and industry. Just before the closing down of the Yuanmingyuan village, several artists including Fang Lijun moved to this remote quiet village. Through word of mouth, more artists followed their steps. There are about four thousand registered artists currently living in Songzhuang now; it is already the biggest visual art community in Beijing. An artistic milieu and a local sense of place have grown with the increasing number of artists. The local district government invests in building impressive exhibition spaces and promoting art in order to bring in more tourists, investors and artists. Compared with Songzhuang, 798 enjoys a favourable location along the airport expressway, between the capital airport and the CBD of Beijing. The unused electronics plant was initially rented as classrooms by the China Central Academy of Fine Arts in the 1990s. Then several artists moved their studios and workshops to the area upon eviction from the Yuanmingyuan village. Until 2002 the site was just a space to rent cheap work space, a factor that has stimulated many art districts globally (Zukin). From that time the resident artists began to plan how to establish a contemporary art district in China. Led by Huang Rui, a leading visual artist, the “798 collective” launched arts events and festivals, notably a “rebuilding 798” project of 2003. More galleries, cafés, bars, and restaurants began to set up, culminating in a management takeover by the Chaoyang District government with the Seven Stars Group[2] prior to the Beijing Olympics. The area now provides massive tax revenue to the local and national government. Nonetheless, both 798 and Songzhuang face problems which reflect the conflict between artists’ attachment to fringe areas and the government’s urbanization approach. 798 can hardly be called an artist production village now due to the local government’s determination to exploit cultural tourism. Over 50 percent of enterprises and people working in 798 now identify 798 as a tourism area rather than an art or “creative” cluster (Liu). Heavy commercialization has greatly disappointed many leading artists. The price for renting space has gone beyond the affordability of artists, and many have chosen to leave. In Songzhuang, the story is similar. In addition to rising prices, a legal dispute between artists and local residents regarding land property rights in 2008 drove some artists out of Songzhuang because they didn’t feel it was stable anymore (Smith). The district’s future as a centre of original art runs up against the aspirations of local officials for more tax revenue and tourist dollars. In the Songzhuang Cultural Creative Industries Cluster Design Plan (cited in Yang), which was developed by J.A.O Design International Architects and Planners Limited and sponsored by the Songzhuang local government in 2007, Songzhuang is designed as an “arts capital incorporated with culture, commerce and tourism.” The down side of this aspiration is that more museums, galleries, shopping centres, hotels, and recreation infrastructure will inevitably be developed in order to capitalise on Songzhuang’s global reputation. Concluding Reflections In reflecting on the recent history of artist villages in Beijing, we might conclude that rural locations are not only a cheap place for artists to live but also a space to showcase their works. More importantly, the relation of artists and outlying district has evolved into a symbiotic relationship. They interact and grow together. The existence of artists transforms the locale and the locale in turn reinforces the identity of artists. In Yuanmingyuan the artists appreciated the old “recluse” tradition and therefore sought spiritual liberation after decades of suppression. The outlying location symbolized freedom to them and provided distance from the world of noisy interaction. But isolation of artists from the local community and the associated constant conflict with local villagers deepened estrangement; these events brought about the end of the dream. In contrast, at 798 and Songzhuang, artists not only regarded the place as their worksite but also engaged with the local community. They communicated with local people and co-developed projects to transform the local landscape. Local communities changed; they started to learn about the artistic world while gaining economic benefits in many ways, such as house renting, running small grocery stores, providing art supplies and even modelling. Their participation into the “art worlds” (Becker) contributed to a changing cultural environment, in turn strengthening the brand of these artist villages. In many regards there were positive externalities for both artists and the district, although as I mentioned in relation to Songzhuang, tensions about land use have never completely been resolved. Today, the fine arts in China have gone far beyond the traditional modes of classics, aesthetics, liberation or rebellion. Art is also a business which requires the access to the material world in order to produce incomes and make profits. It appears that many contemporary artists are not part of a movement of rebellion (except several artists, such as Ai Weiwei), adopting the pure spirit of art as their life-time mission, as in the Yuanmingyuan artist village. They still long for recognition, but they are also concerned with success and producing a livelihood. The boundary between inner urban and outer urban areas is not as significant to them as it once was for artists from a former period. While many artists enjoy the quiet and space of the fringe and rural areas to work; they also require urban space to exhibit their works and earn money. This factor explains the recent emergence of Caochangdi and other artist villages in the neighbouring area around the 798. These latest artist villages in the urban fringe still have open and peaceful spaces and can be accessed easily due to convenient transportation. Unfortunately, the coalition of business and government leads to rapid commercialization of place which is not aligned with the basic need of artists, which is not only a free or affordable place but also a space for creativity. As mentioned above, 798 is now so commercialized that it is too crowded and expensive for artists due to the government’s overdevelopment; whereas the government’s original intention was to facilitate the development of 798. Furthermore, although artists are a key stakeholder in the government’s agenda for visual art industry, it is always the government’s call when artists’ attachment to rural space comes into conflict with Beijing government’s urbanization plan. Hence the government decides which artist villages should be sacrificed to give way to urban development and which direction the reserved artist villages or art clusters should be developed. The logic of government policy causes an absolute distinction between cities and outlying districts. And the government’s enthusiasm for “urbanization” leads to urbanized artist villages, such as the 798. A vicious circle is formed: the government continuously attempts to have selected artist villages commercialized and transformed into urbanized or quasi-urbanized area and closes other artist villages. One of the outcomes of this policy is that in the government created creative clusters, many artists do not stay, and move away into rural and outlying areas because they prefer to work in non-urban spaces. To resolve this dilemma, greater attention is required to understand artists needs and ways to combine urban convenience and rural tranquillity into their development plans. This may be a bridge too far, however. Reference Becker, Howard Saul. Art Worlds. 25th anniversary, updated and expanded ed. Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 2008. Collis, Christy, Emma Felton, and Phil Graham. "Beyond the Inner City: Real and Imagined Places in Creative Place Policy and Practice." The Information Society: An International Journal 26.2 (2010): 104–12. Commission, Outer London. 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