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The first gallery to open in Da Shan Zi, 798 Space remains at the heart of the district. It is worth visiting for the spectacle of the cavernous main hall with its curious multiple-arched roof.

When many of the abandoned factory spaces were being converted for use as galleries, the artists instructed the decorators to leave untouched the giant Maoist slogans that had been lettered on the walls by the former workers – as at 798 Space. “Mao Zedong is the red star in our hearts,” reads one.

A fashionable café whose notable feature is a bare-brick dividing wall punctured by massive holes, AT serves as the unofficial canteen for the artists and gallery staff who work in the area.

Of 798’s very many galleries, most of which change their exhibitions on a monthly basis, this place consistently presents some of the most worthwhile work. It represents top artists like Xiao Hong, whose series “Intellectual Youth” showed here.

Foreign art dealers are already present in numbers in 798. The striking White Space was one of the first such galleries, a branch of the Berlin-based Alexander Ochs Gallery.

Established in 2001 by Texan Robert Bernell, Timezone 8, which occupies a former factory canteen, is Beijing’s best art bookshop. It also incorporates a gallery that specializes in photographic art.

Feng Ling is a young fashion designer whose work is displayed at her boutique, Tianzi, in the same building as White Space. Her clothes are Sino Pop Art, and include items such as elegant linen tunics printed with a phrase from a Mao Zedong poem.

Throughout the 798 compound large pieces of sculpture stand beside the lanes and pathways, and in courtyards. They are “in storage,” like this giant Mao tunic outside a local media headquarters, awaiting proper homes or buyers.

Not a gallery, the South Gate is an exciting, small performance space, used for theater, dance, and music. It fills the gap between club and full-scale theater auditorium, and is a favorite with visiting international acts. Check the local English-language free press to find out what’s on.

In addition to often excellent and regularly changing exhibitions of work by both Chinese and foreign photographers, the gallery also has a couple of mezzanine levels where a selection of photographic prints for sale are displayed.