Evolution of Cultural Clusters in China: Comparative Study of Beijing and Shanghai

The openness to marketization in China provides opportunities for artists to pursue self-expression for a new career of old buzzword of culture. Bohemian group in Beijing is the forerunner to retreat from the authoritative regime to the market system. The second attempt, represented by Beijing 798, successfully secured a respectable standing within and beyond the field of art, locally and worldwide. In Shanghai, the discourse was soon reshaped to favour creative industrial zones after renovation of abandoned plants, with its landscape devoted more to the aestheticization, frequently based on ‘heritage’ discovery and appropriation.
From Beijing to Shanghai, the travelling discourse on the creatives and their places in Chinese cities undergoes divergent processes, thus, generating respective products. The paper presents the evolving process of representative cases in Beijing and Shanghai with attention on actions taken by major actors: the artists, the social forces involved in the struggle to preserve the cultural clusters, and the state. It is maintained that the development of cultural cluster is indeed a product that reflects structurally biased social relations. Under this account, I attempt to explore discourses and tactics deployed by various actors and the web of interconnectedness. Whilst exploring market niche for a continuous economic growth, the state, at the same time, cautiously navigates the transformation away from politically forbidden areas.