Invierno in Beijing II- siete-nueve-ocho

I’m back in rainy/ sunny/ ponded Singapore my friends! Just in time for Christmas as well

Now that I’ve got my internet access fully back, here’s the next instalment of my Beijing trip!

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If you’re ever in Beijing, you really need to check out this really cool and niche Arts district, 798.

It’s something like a 田子方in Shanghai but much, much bigger, and less commercialised- sitting comfortably at the crossroads of the modern and the new.

From what I researched on the place (after visiting it, no less :p), it was a former Soviet-owned, German industrial area that was disused and later taken over by the PRC government that was later gazetted as an arts district.

A lot of top artists in China had their roots here, living and working from this area once.

Now, the place has lots of cool museums and showcases.

Apparently there used to be a train station (still completely intact) that ran right into the heart of this industrial town, carrying whatever steel or what-not in and out. They even left the trains and tracks intact for you to walk around and explore!

Being a typical city-dweller (read: likes the finer things in life at times), I loved the niche little cafes that hung around some of the blocks.

The food I tried there was decently good too!

I visited the place with Jane, one of my now-buddy-Beijing friends whom I met while performing at the Shanghai Expo last year!

The hand of art is so prevalent everywhere, on every street corner- huge sculptures that form spectacles just on their own.

Every little corner where you venture to in this huge district (it’ll take you almost a whole day just exploring the place!) you will see very clever and subtle artistic takes on history, politics and the artistic exploration of the artists.

It’s a great place to get some very special (and cheeky) souveniers too!

I absolutely love collecting figurines and so I parted ways with my money to bring back these two cute dolls, as well as (yet another) painting:

This next place I’m gonna introduce to you is awesome.

It’s a little shop where you can send postcards to your future self. Yup, what a concept right? Being a person who is obsessed with the concept of temporal art and space, I was really taken in.

They sell postcards with their mascot on it- cute little pandas.

Somehow all the messages that I took on the postcards are really 忧伤…

This next one is tough to translate- I hope all of you out there are Mandarin readers!

The shop has like tabletops where people either send something to a future-self, or simply pen a thought or two into the many notebooks available.

Even the kids were at it…

And I wrote a note to myself too!

798 is a really cool place to check out the next time you’re in Beijing- I’m certainly going to make it a point to return the next time I’m in Beijing again.

Although I must say it was kinda cold being outdoors for the better part of the day (in Winter, no less…)

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2012 has finally arrived! No, I’m not one for resolutions, not going to pen any down here to bore people…

I’ll be back real soon with my next post on other places to check out in Beijing!

ttfn*!

*Ta-ta-for-now!