798 & Caochangdi: From Munitions Factory to Art District, Beijing's Contemporary-Art Hub

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Half-day

5 stops · Half-day

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My Trip

798, where an East German-designed Bauhaus-style munitions factory (Joint Factory 718) became, in whole, a contemporary-art district. From large museums to the Caochangdi gallery village built up by Ai Weiwei. A Beijing art deep-dive where socialist industrial heritage overlaps with contemporary art.

Half-day5 stopsEst. budget 18,000 KRW

Itinerary

1
798 Art Zone798艺术区
Art museum · 60 min stay
The site of Joint Factory 718, built in the 1950s with East German and Soviet support. Galleries, bookstores and cafes have moved into the factory frame, where sawtooth gabled roofs and old Mao-era slogans remain. Walking the industrial architecture and street sculptures is content in itself.
Walk 6 min
2
UCCA Center for Contemporary ArtUCCA尤伦斯当代艺术中心
798 · Art museum · 70 min stay
The nonprofit contemporary-art museum that represents 798. Its large special exhibitions are high in quality, a benchmark for Beijing's contemporary art. The spatial impact of viewing installation art under the huge ceiling of the old factory boiler room is overwhelming.
Walk 8 min
3
M WOODS Museum木木美术馆
798 · Art museum · 50 min stay
A stylish private museum founded by young collectors. While bringing in international shows on the level of David Hockney and Olafur Eliasson, its Instagram-worthy spatial staging is excellent, drawing younger visitors.
Walk 10 min
4
751D·PARK
Culture · 40 min stay
An old gas plant next to 798. Huge gas tanks, distillation towers and rusted rails remain intact, used as a design and fashion-show space. Quieter than 798 and with even more overwhelming industrial-heritage scale, highly recommended for photographers.
Taxi 12 min
5
Three Shadows Photography Art Centre (Caochangdi)三影堂摄影艺术中心 (草场地)
Art museum · 50 min stay
North of 798, the core of Caochangdi, the gray-brick gallery village designed and built up by Ai Weiwei. Small galleries are scattered around Three Shadows, the hub of Chinese contemporary photography. Unlike the touristy 798, the density of a real working and exhibiting scene.