In the eyes of many Chinese, Guangdong is the “Desert of Culture”. Even in its Capital-Guangzhou, favorite outdoor activities for many local people are KTV and shopping. Well, to be fair, Guangzhou has quite active an art sphere. It’s just that artists here in town tend to keep a low profile. While New York’s SOHO, Beijing’s 798 and Shanghai’s M50 have been made into a place of tourist interest, Guangzhou’s counterpart-Xing Fang 60, remains a tribe reserved mostly for modern artists.
Xing Fang 60 was originally a machine factory built and owned by the Guangzhou Municipal Government group in the 1970s. However, the same as many other state owned factories in that period, Xing Fang 60 went bankrupt later on, leaving 20,000 square meters of construction area in waste.
Lin Qing, the current owner of Xing Fang 60, bought it over and planned to build a private badminton club on this land. But all the proposals he had for the badminton club were not at all satisfactory to him. Inspired by the “Heart-breaking Utopia” reconstructed from an old factory - a story in the popular TV series “STRUGGLE”, Lin found artistic elements in the rusty pipes and yellowish grease of this abandoned factory, and turned the place into creative/advant-garde design studios, art exhibitions halls, Central Perk (The café where FRIENDS sit and gossip) style bars, extreme sport clubs…you name it. In the following paragraphs, I will try my best to show you this “Art Incubator” of Guangzhou.
1. Pingpong Bar and Pingpong Space
Pingpong Bar (as shown in the picture on the left) is a small place with minimum decoration. Nonetheless, it doesn’t stop well-mannered handsome guys and friendly pretty girls coming for the advant-garde play nights, according to its initiator, Qiu Qiu. “People coming for the advant-garde play nights do not necessarily understand the plays. Still, they can talk to those who understand as they like.”
Right on the opposite side of the road from Pingpong Bar is Pingpong Space (as shown in the picture on the right). Though renovated last year, Pingpong Space managed to remain its nostalgic settings and attracted exhibitions of video, gadgets, performance art, music and sculpture.
2. The Wolves
The Wolves…creepy, isn’t it? It is the name of the biggest SUV club in Southern China.
Why Wolves? You might wonder. The reason is, all club members have to name themselves “?? wolf”. For example, the club owner himself is called the “Lone wolf”. They have other club members called “Bewitching wolf”, “Rainbow Wolf”, “Jungle Wolf”, colour wolf..etc. The Wolves was founded in 1994. Many senior club members are fanatic SUV fans who have explored all over China with their SUVs.
Members in this SUV club may all be all “elites” in society, but when they finish a day’s work and gather in this club, they sit and talk like a common bunch of friends, sharing driving tips, watching videos, downing beers, champagne, just plain relaxation. Even if you are not a “wolf”, you are also welcome to join the group and share adventurous stories with the wolves.
3. Design Studios
Frenchmen Rock/Stone (I literally translated it from 法国人石头.) fell in love with Xing Fang 60 when he designed it, and set his studio in this old factory right afterwards. Various graphic designers, interior designers, industrial designers, image designers and fashion designers have also joined the Design Studios family.
4. Recording Studios
If you want to have a look at Guangzhou musicians’ life, you can go straight in professional recording studios that have already homed in Xing Fang 60, e.g. Fang Yi, Graffiti, and Dodecahedron. Many Xinghai Conservatory graduates come here to record music for their bands. These studios provide services like recording and band accompaniment for ordinary people as well as professional singers and music students. The charge is about RMB 3000 per piece, or RMB 10,000+ per CD.
Lin Qing has also purchased another old factory right next to Xing Fang 60. “It will be a tremendous base for underground brands and original local music producers”, said Lin.
Address: No.60, Xian Lie Dong Heng Lu (Near the back gate of Xinghai Conservatory) 先烈东横路60号（星海音乐学院后门）Xian1 Lie4 Dong1 Heng2 Lu4 60 Hao4 （Xing1 Hai3 Yin1 Yue4 Xue2 Yuan4 Hou4 Men2)
(Source: Nanfang Daily, Xing Fang 60 )
