Tianzifang

 

Basic Information of Tianzifang

Chinese Name: 田子坊 Pronunciation: Tián Zi Fáng

Building Time: 1930

Admission Ticket Fare: Free

Opening Hours: All day

Suggested Visiting Hours: 1-3 Hours

Best Visiting Time: All year round

Address: Lane 210, Taikang Road, Luwan District, Shanghai (About a mile southwest of Xintiandi)

Popular Activities: Exploring different style architectures and various stores, shopping or having a dinner, and visiting design studios and art galleries.

 

What You Need to Know About Tianzifang

Located at Lane 210, Taikang Road, Luwan District, Tianzifang is a fashionable and creative industry gathering area, and it is reconstructed from the Shanghai special Shikumen architectural complex.
 

Tianzifang is also known as “Zhichengfang”, which got its name “Tianzifang” from a famous painter Huang Yongyu in 2001, who took the name from a homophone “Tian Zifang”, which is the name of an ancient Chinese painter. Tianzifang means a place where painters gather for painting.
 

Many artists set their creative work base here, which is also known as the second "Xintiandi". But unlike the commercialization of the Xintiandi, Tianzifang still keeps worldly flavor of life. The downstairs of Shikumen may be the designer’s exquisite café, while upstairs is still swinging the flats and clothes washed by the residents who are still living there.
 

There are shops selling retro glasses and old-fashioned music boxes, and there are stores selling fashion brand clothing from Hong Kong. Various shops are crowded here, which makes people dizzy. Foodies can find out interesting and innovative restaurants to satisfy their taste buds here while literary young people can spend a day visiting several art studios of cultural celebrities. For example, the most famous former site of Chen Yifei's studio (located in lane 210) still contains the items he used before.
 

In addition, there are also several famous cultural and artistic scenic spots visitors can’t miss, such as Ren Weiyin Painting Museum, Scent Library, Basai Art Center and Tianzifang Painter's Building.

 

Development of Tianzifang

Tianzifang is located in Luwan District which was at the edge of French concession in history. First founded in 1930, Tianzifang was a combination area, mixed with quiet garden houses, rows of Shikumen buildings, factories, brick bungalows, and also shantytowns. The famous painter Wang Yacheng and his wife once lived here in Yinyun Building. They founded Shanghai Xinhua Art College and artists Association "Li Society ", which became the original relation of Tian Zifang's cultural accumulation.
 

After Liberation in 1949, factories were set up in the lanes one after another. According to statistics, Shanghai People's Needle Factory, Shanghai Food Machinery Factory, Shanghai Clock and Plastic Attachments Factory, Shanghai Xinxing Leather Factory, Shanghai Paper Cup Factory, and Shanghai Huamei Radio Factory all have been founded and operated here, and many old factories and old warehouses have been well-preserved so far.
 

In the spring of 1998, Chen Yifei took the lead in setting up a studio in Tian Zifang, which built the foundation for the formation of Tianzifang brand. After that, Huang Yongyu, Wang Yuyin, Er Dongqiang, Zheng Yu and other artists entered Tianzifang and set up studios one after another, which created agglomeration effects for the formation of cultural and creative industrial park.
 

In 2005, Tianzifang became Shanghai's top ten most influential creative industry agglomeration area.

 

Tianzifang Amazing Sights You Should Not Miss

Chen Yifei Art Studio

Chen Yifei was born in 1946 and died in 2005, who was a painter and director with representative works such as Dusk Appointment, Hairdresser, and Pace.

Located at No. 1-23, Lane No. 210, Taikang Road in Tianzifang, Chen Yifei Art Studio is a two-story old house which was reconstructed from an old Shikumen building, where retains some paintings of Chen Yifei.

Some of Chen Yifei's paintings, used pigments, palettes and so on are displayed at the first floor, while the old furniture such as sofas, chairs and so on are displayed on the second floor where Chen Yifei used to live. Now, the second floor was transformed into Yifei Pottery Studio.

The used living things and the collections of representative oil paintings make the studio become the best place for people to fully understand the Chinese contemporary oil painting master Chen Yifei.

The studio is free of charge to the public, with opening hours between10:00- 17:30 from Monday to Sunday.

Shoubai Art Gallery

Located at No. 4, Lane No. 210, Taikang Road in Tianzifang, Shoubai Art Gallery is a store of two-story old house decorated with some handcrafts and the works of Li Shoubai, a famous contemporary painter, a master of paper-cut art. Li Shoubai’s works have been displayed in exhibitions at home and abroad.
 

This special space is created by Li Shiyi, the daughter of Li Shoubai, so the space melts some fashion factors into the traditional art, such as some cultural and creative products. The second floor is completely decorated in the style of the old Shanghai’s living room, with old style leather sofa, old style gramophone, and old table and chairs.
 

Customers can not only appreciate the works of Li Shoubai, but also can have a drink in the art gallery, such as special old Shanghai drinks, Shanghai coffee, and cocktail. The opening hours are between 10:00-20:00 from Monday to Sunday.

Ear Cleaning & Relaxing Cultural Experience Museum

Located at 2nd Floor, Lane No. 272, Taikang Road in Tianzifang, Ear Cleaning & Relaxing Cultural Experience Museum was founded by Weiwei group, and Zhu Ju is the main founder, who is the inheritor of intangible cultural heritage Zhu’s ear cleaning.
 

Ear cleaning, also known for the consumers as “Xiao Shufu” (a kind of satisfaction or enjoyment), is a traditional folk technique of cleaning ear. The opening hours are between 10:30-23:00 from Monday to Sunday.
 

He Youzhi Calligraphy and Painting Studio

He Youzhi is a famous Chinese serial painter and master of line drawing. He has engaged in comic book creation for more than 50 years, and published more than 100 comic books and made great contributions to the comic book creation and line drawing art in China.
 

He Youzhi was born in November 1922 and died on March 16, 2016. He has held personal exhibitions in France, Germany, and Singapore. "He Youzhi Art Exhibition" was held in Shanghai Art Museum and Guangzhou Art Museum before. Some of his works were displayed in the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, South Korea, Hong Kong and other places.
 

He Youzhi once taught in Singapore Nanyang Art Institute and France Anguleem Image Institute; and won honorary citizen certificate of Anguleem city. In 2011, at the age of 89, he became the one of the first batch who won the "China Art Award ·Lifelong Achievement Award ".

 

How to Get to Tianzifang

By Bus

Take Bus No.41, No.43, No.45, No.96, No.146, No.205, No.218, No.786, No.806, No.931, No.955, No.985, and get off at the "Dapuqiao" (打浦桥) bus stop.
 

Take Bus No.17, No.24, No. 864, and get off at the station "Middle Jianguo Road Ruijin No. 2 Road” (建国中路瑞金二路).
 

By Subway

Take Metro Line 9 and get off at the station "Dapuqiao" (打浦桥), and get out from the Exit 1.
 

By Taxi

Chinese: 请带我去田子坊。English: Please take me to Tianzifang.

If you go to the Tianzifang from Pudong International Airport, it takes about 1 hour (about 46 km, about 160 yuan).

If you go to the Tianzifang from the Shanghai Railway Station, it takes about 23 minutes (7 km, about 26 yuan).

If you go to the Tianzifang from the Shanghainan Railway Station, it takes about 20 minutes (9 km, about 30 yuan).