A former equipment factory complex constructed in a Sovietized Bauhaus style by East German architects in the 1950s, 798 Art Zone (aka 798 Art District or Factory 798) is now home to Beijing's most visible contemporary art community. With its orderly collection of industrial builidings, wide streets and red-bricks walls, history, the present, industry and the arts all fit together at 789 like puzzle pieces. In the last decade or so the area has seen artists and arts organziations colonize the vacant plants and gradually transform them into a district of galleries, studios, fashion boutiques and creative spaces. The original 798 factory was the first part of the complex to be converted from abandoned industrial space to creative purposes, hence today's name. 798 Art Zone is now so large (230,000 square meters) that it's become a neighbourhood unto itself with lively streets, cafes, restaurants, shops, theaters, outdoor sculptures, installations, visual media and, of course, a huge number of galleries and studios. You can easily spend a day exploring the place and not see everything. Most visitors make a nice afternoon excursion out of it, including a relaxing brunch or lunch with plenty of time to wander about. 798 has come to compete with art districts you might find in New York, London, Paris or Berlin, though the quality and content of the art itself may strike international visitors as inconsistent. And, as it goes from edgy to established, the exciting feeling of a neighborhood populated by risk-taking urban artist-pioneers has given way to a more self-conscious commercial opportunism, as younger emerging artists have set up shop in less trendy—and therefore expensive—areas of the city. Regardless, a visit to early 21st century Beijing is not complete without a visit to 798 Art Zone, which still can provide the kinds of insights into the new China that first-time visitors can't get from focusing only on Beijing's historic relics.