As Chengdu's economy takes off into the stratosphere, the city is taking steps to make sure that culture doesn't get left behind. In south Chengdu, the husks of old factory buildings are being revitalized and reinvented as the Chengdu East Zone Music Park (EZMP).

Music events and performances occupy the central brick-laid square. Bars, karaoke joints, and a night club provide additional entertainment. To flesh out the park's namesake theme, music shops, instrument shops and a DJ equipment store complete the roster.

The music park (which is not really a park, in the green sense of the word) is more of a delineated art and music cultural neighborhood consisting of a few city blocks.

Those familiar with Beijing's 798 Art District will be quick to note the parallels between it and EZMP: EZMP follows the 798 mold to a T. Old factories have been repurposed while retaining enough industrial details so that one is constantly aware of the location's history. The renovated buildings are also unabashedly contemporary in their design, which well suits the park theme of new music and new arts.

However the story of how EZMP and 798 arrived in their current states differs. 798 was once a factory district which fell into disuse after World War II. Artists looking for cheap studio space realized they could make use of converted factory spaces. The growing neighborhood of artists began attracting visitors, shops, and restaurants. At some point, the city recognized the value of this new cultural hot spot, and began supporting its growth.

For EZMP, it looks like Chengdu recognized early on the south zone factory district's cultural potential and encouraged its development before the artists made their stake. Although a number of art galleries and museums are among the first tenants of EZMP, people may notice one sign that this is not a grassroots art scene: money. The moment one enters the front gate, designer details reveal themselves in a gas tank reinterpreted as a fountain, in angular accents on buildings, in the wide avenue of bricks, which happily accommodates the industrial structures which today can only be decorative.

Beijingers may shrug their shoulders at EZMP's perceived lack of originality, but for Chengdu, EZMP is definitely a unique spot: a well-thought out and nicely executed space for art and music.

As the 200,000 square meter space just opened last September, EZMP is still in it's fledgling stage, but it has gotten a hold of a crowd of regulars, and more and more people are coming to check out what's happening here every day. The intro hasn't soared into the chorus yet, but it doesn't show any signs of stopping before it gets there.

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