The famous 798 Art Zone is home to many successful galleries, including Beijing Tokyo Art Projects from Japan and the Art Seasons Gallery from Singapore. The UCCA (Ullens Center for Contemporary Art), founded by Guy and Myriam Ullens in November 2007, is one of the largest. Its 8,000 square meters live up to the job; it was designed and transformed jointly by Jean-Michel Wilmotte and Ma Qingyun, founder of the architectural firm Shanghai Madaspam.

    Guy and Myriam Ullens are Belgians. They used to run their family's sugar businesses in the United States and Europe, but their efforts met with little success in China. During their China tours Mr. Ullens formed close friendships with young Chinese artists. He had collected many Western art works, but at the suggestion of experts, he began to collect classic and contemporary Chinese art. He purchased the works of Ai Xuan and Wang Guangyi, and later continued to collect the Chinese avant-garde. In 2002, two years after Ullens quit the family business, he established a foundation based in Paris. The foundation invited well-known Chinese-French curator and scholar Fei Dawei to be its inaugural director. Building on the 2,000 Chinese and foreign art works they collected over a period of 20 years, the Ullens couple single-handedly supported Chinese art, and on top of that conducted charitable activities. These days the Chinese art market is on the rise again, and their purchases of the works of Yue Minjun, Wang Guangyi and Zhang Xiaogang are no doubt proving wise investments.

    At the entrance to the center's exhibition hall is an art shop, with many items you'd call wearable art, or one-of-a-kind designs, on display. The Ullens Center is unique in 798 for its rhythmic alliance of life, art and fad.

    Following the increasing commercialization of 798 Art Zone, however, it was inevitable that some artists would move out to low key communities such as Songzhuang and Beigao districts to engage in pure artistic creation. As a result, now 798 looks more like a fashionable gallery and leisure zone. Ordinary art watchers are often satisfied with attending openings, taking in shows and purchasing clever items unavailable elsewhere. Some art work is also still quite inexpensive and therefore accessible. Popularity does not imply the negation of elite culture, but brings culture to the doorstep of the masses and influences their lives.

    Popularization is followed by internationalization, which is appropriate since 798's customers come from all over the world.