Creative Clustering at Shanghai Tianzifang Art District

Creative Clustering at Shanghai Tianzifang Art District

Creative Clustering at Shanghai Tianzifang Art District

While Shenzhen is China's ultra-modern electronics manufacturing center, Shanghai is the country's fashion and style capital with multiple cultural and historical influences to draw from dating back to the time when it was a treaty port.

Indeed, amid the frenzied construction of towering new skyscrapers over the past thirty years, the city has beautifully preserved many of its old buildings and neighborhoods, giving rise to new "creative clusters" filled with trendy restaurants, boutiques, art galleries, and artisan workshops that leverage Shanghai's unique cultural heritage.

Probably the most famous example is Xintiandi, an area of reconstituted traditional shikumen ('stone gate') houses in narrow alleys that has become one of the trendiest parts of the city. A second is Tianzifang, a much smaller neighborhood of old brick apartment buildings that was restored in 2000.

Denoted by the city government as the Shanghai Creative Industry Clustering Park, Tianzifang packs a wide variety of colorful coffee shops, bars, restaurants, art galleries, and shops into its narrow alleys, providing a pleasant place for strolling around in.

But where was the creativity, I wondered, as I tired of seeing the same old Shanghai vintage advertising posters and T shirts featuring mildly ironic Cultural Revolution icons. And where was the raw energy that I felt every time I stepped into the noisy chaos of Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei electronics market?

Ultimately, I did come across a couple interesting shops, including one store inviting you to "come in and make your own baby", but beyond that I found nothing that could be remotely described as creative or ground-breaking though I did enjoy a pleasant cup of Yunan coffee before leaving.

In theory, the idea of bringing "creative" industries together into a cluster so that they can feed off each other's energy, ideas, and different perspective is a great idea. But all too often it can lead to a generic genteel blandness that can now be found in the trendy art districts of all the world's major cities.

Tianzifang made for a pleasant morning out, but for creative excitement I'll take the raw energy and chaos of Shenzhen's Huaqiangbei electronics market any day!

Marco Polo

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