YANJIAO, China — Artists in need of cheap, affordable studio space are often drawn to out-of-the-way or hardscrabble neighborhoods.
中国燕郊——需要便宜、租得起的工作室的艺术家们通常会被吸引到偏僻或贫穷的地方。
The visual artists who flocked to SoHo in Manhattan decades ago helped resurrect what had been a deteriorating factory and warehouse district.
几十年前蜂拥来到曼哈顿SoHo区的视觉艺术家们帮助复兴了这个曾经日益衰落的工厂和仓库区。
Young artists also helped revive parts of Brooklyn neighborhoods like Williamsburg and Bushwick,
年轻艺术家也帮助复兴了布鲁克林(Brooklyn)的部分地区，比如威廉斯堡(Williamsburg)和布什威克(Bushwick)。
and a similar pattern has occurred in many other major cities, including Berlin, Paris and Detroit.
类似的模式也出现在其他很多大城市，比如，柏林、巴黎和底特律。
In China, a small and decidedly nondescript city called Yanjiao, about an hour’s drive from Beijing, has been experiencing a similar influx of artists, though it is highly unlikely that they will initiate the kind of renaissance that has tourists flocking to Williamsburg and SoHo.
在中国，距北京1小时车程的毫不起眼的小城市燕郊也在经历类似的艺术家蜂拥而入的过程，虽然他们不大可能实现上述的那种复兴，吸引游客像蜂拥前往威廉斯堡和SoHo那样来到这里。
That’s because the artists’ inexpensive studios in Yanjiao lack exposed brick walls or distressed wood beams.
那是因为，艺术家们在燕郊租住的廉价工作室没有暴露的砖墙和古旧木梁。
Instead, they tend to feature concrete walls and cheap metal fittings, and they are generally in large, uninspired apartment blocks.
相反，它们大多由混凝土墙和廉价的金属固件构成，通常位于庞大的、平淡无奇的住宅区。
Yanjiao, with a population of about 300,000, was once known mostly as a sleeper city, whose residents commuted to jobs in Beijing.
燕郊大约有30万人，曾以睡城闻名，那里的居民通勤去北京上班。
During the day, its wide, dusty streets are nearly empty, flanked by apartment buildings waiting for tenants to return from work.
白天，尘土飞扬的宽阔街道上几乎空无一人，两侧的公寓楼等着住户们下班回家。
The idealistic but impoverished artists here, many of them young graduates from Beijing’s elite art schools, work and live in these apartment blocks.
贫穷的理想主义艺术家——很多是北京顶尖艺术学校的年轻毕业生——在这些住宅区工作和生活。
Driven by high rents and the constant threat of demolition in Beijing, many artists who might previously have hunkered down in the city, China’s unofficial cultural capital, are flocking to Yanjiao as a low-cost spot from which to chase their dreams.
很多艺术家可能曾经蜗居在中国的非官方文化之都北京，但那里高昂的房租和持续不断的拆迁威胁迫使他们蜂拥来到燕郊这个生活成本低廉的地方，继续追逐自己的梦想。
The only reason for artists living in Yanjiao is that it’s cheap, one of them, Zhang Yongji, 27, said with a laugh.
只是因为便宜，我们才住在燕郊，27岁的张永基笑着说。
Like many young artists, Mr Zhang dreamed of making it big in Beijing.
和很多年轻艺术家一样，张也曾梦想在北京大展宏图。
But after graduating from the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts there in 2012, he looked into renting a studio in the city and found he could not afford one.
但是，2012年，他从著名的中央美术学院毕业后，想在北京租一间工作室，却发现自己租不起。
A friend of his was living in Yanjiao, and after visiting, he decided to move here.
当时他的一个朋友住在燕郊，他去看望那位朋友后决定搬来这里。
Eventually, he settled into an apartment complex called the South Side of Hawaii, one of the city’s many sprawling,
最后，他在一个名叫夏威夷南岸的小区住下来。
colorfully named residential complexes designed in a faux European style. (Others include the North Side of Hawaii, Hawaii Valley and Sweet Seoul City.)
它是这座城市很多名字起得很炫的庞大仿欧式住宅区之一（其他的还有夏威夷北岸、夏威夷溪谷和首尔甜城等）。
In 2013, he and a group of friends founded On Space, an apartment turned experimental art gallery.
2013年，他和一群朋友成立了On Space工作室——一个用公寓改造而成的实验艺术画廊。
In the last decade, urbanization and gentrification have accelerated in Beijing.
在过去十年里，北京的城市化和中产阶层化进程加快。
These forces are pushing artists to think of alternative models for running art spaces, including, yes, spaces in Yanjiao, said Kira Simon-Kennedy, a co-founder and the director of China Residencies, a nonprofit arts organization.
这些压力正推动艺术家们思考开设艺术空间的其他模式，是的，包括在燕郊设立工作室，非赢利艺术组织中国艺术交流(China Residencies)的联合创始人兼总监孟金兰(Kira Simon-Kennedy)说。
Many of China’s most famous contemporary artists emerged from so-called artist villages on the urban fringes of Beijing, where rent was low and distractions from making art were few.
中国很多最著名的当代艺术家都是从北京郊区所谓的艺术家村走出来的，那里租金便宜，而且几乎没有分散艺术创作注意力的东西。
One of the best known of these enclaves is Caochangdi Village, which became an artists’ hub after Ai Weiwei built his studio there in 1999.
其中最出名的一个地方叫草场地，1999年艾未未在那里开设自己的工作室后，它成为一个艺术家聚集地。
However, as Beijing’s city limits have expanded, many smaller artist villages have been torn down to make way for new development.
但是，随着北京的城区范围不断扩大，很多小型艺术家村被拆除，让位于新的地产开发项目。
Art is always pushed to the edge, said He Miao, a curator of contemporary art in Beijing.
艺术总被推到边边角角的地方，北京的当代艺术策展人禾苗说，
In China, contemporary art cannot be made in cities.
中国的当代艺术不可能诞生于城市，
Where the urban meets the rural, that’s where art happens.
而是诞生于城乡结合部。
Yanjiao initially attracted attention from the artistic community in 2006,
2006年，中央美院在离夏威夷南岸不远的地方建了一个校区。
when the Central Academy of Fine Arts established a satellite campus not far from the South Side of Hawaii.
自此，燕郊开始引起艺术家群体的注意。
Art supply, printing and framing shops quickly popped up to serve the students, teachers and artists who would be living and working nearby.
很快，附近涌现出很多艺术创作用品店、印刷店和装裱店，为在这里生活和工作的学生、老师和艺术家服务。
The first artists found it lonely.
搬来这里的第一批艺术家当时觉得很孤单。
When I first got here, my building was completely empty, and there were no lights at night, said Pange Yang, 26,
我刚到燕郊的时候，我的楼完全是空的，晚上的时候一片黑，26岁的潘戈阳说。
who arrived in 2012.
他2012年搬来这里。
I was the only person in the building.
楼里面只有我一个人。
But as word of mouth about Yanjiao spread, more artists began coming.
但是，随着燕郊的口碑散播开来，越来越多的艺术家来到这里。