There has been much talk in artistic and commercial circles on the mainland recently about the need to invest in young designers so as to move from a 'Made in China' economy to a 'Designed by China' one.
This thinking is reflected in the 11th Five-Year Programme (2006-2010), which identified creative industries as a 'point of growth'.
A number of areas are now labelled 'creative clusters' by many city authorities. Shanghai, which saw its first 'creative cluster' in 2004, now has more than 80 of them.
These clusters are meant to breathe new life into dilapidated industrial plants in urban areas by using innovative architecture to transform them into offices and galleries for creative professionals to form new artistic communities. However, the line between creative and commercial ventures is not always clear.
The 798 Dashanzi Art District in Beijing inadvertently started this trend in the mid-90s when artists moved into the former Bauhaus munitions factory in search of cheap studio space. Often dubbed the Soho of China, the area has been home to contemporary Chinese artists such as avant-garde painter Yue Minjun, whose works now fetch millions at auctions. It has also become one of Beijing's tourist attractions. But critics say this gentrification has caused 798 to lose its edge and that smaller galleries and artists' studios are moving out.
Nevertheless, 798 is cited as a model by government planners deciding the fate of Beijing's assorted disused factories. Whether an organic artistic community can be recreated on spec is a question they don't seem to have considered yet.