If you plan a trip to Beijing, make sure to allow time to visit the “798 Art Zone” or Dashanzi Art District where a mix of political, cultural, and economic combustion have created an edgy contemporary art scene.

You could easily spend a day walking around this post-industrial-chic neighborhood of 50-year-old decommissioned communist-era factories and warehouses converted into artists’ spaces, galleries, boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants, often compared to New York’s Greenwich Village or SoHo.

The shopping, even for budget travelers, is excellent and filled with finds from Mao kitsch items to cool clothing and interesting souvenirs.

Due to the current real estate bubble, it is rumored that the district is highly likely to be demolished in the not too distant future.