Workshop of the World – Fine Arts Division

James Fallows:

Which brings us to the Dafen “art factory village” outside Shenzhen, in southern China. I had heard a lot about Dafen, including in a very good story by Evan Osnos of the Chicago Tribune early this year. (The story seems no longer to be on the Tribune’s site. For reference, it was published on February 13, 2007.) But only this weekend did I see it, guided by Liam Casey, the Irish “Mr. China” I described a few months ago in an article about Shenzhen’s more conventional factories. Now that I’ve seen it — my lord!