The Padma Metok Art Space .[Photo/TibetCulture.net]

The area occupied by Beijing 798 Art Zone was once the place for Beijing North China wireless joint equipment factory (namely, 718 Joint Factory), which was designed and built by the experts of former G.D.R in the 1950s.

Attracted by ordered designing, convenient traffic, unique style of Bauhaus architecture, many art organizations and artists came to rent the vacant plants and transformed them, gradually formed a district gathered galleries, art studios, cultural companies, fashion shops etc.

As a significant cultural symbol, Beijing 798 Art Zone plays vividly the integrated roles of pioneer consciousness and traditional fashion, as well as historical context and development mode, among which the Tibetan culture is an indispensible component.

Located on the 2nd floor of the FrendshipFriendship Building, west of Beijing 798 Art Zone, the Padma Metok Art Space, a semi-nonprofit agency for promoting Tibetan culture, is a folk art zone of Tibetan culture with the largest area, the fullest range and the longest time in China.

Ma Yuxia, manager of the Padma Metok Art Space, shared the reporter her first intimate contact with Tibet.

She fell in love with Tibet at the first sight, she said, “on our way to Lake Namtso, the weather was not quite good for it was raining with leaden clouds covering the sky. Magic just happened at the moment we arrived at the destination for , it turned sunny so and we could fully enjoy the beauty of the holy lake. However, on our way back home, it began to rain again. Try to imagine, the most amazing thing just happened in the most mysterious place as Tibet. I felt so lucky.”

After her return to Beijing, she seeks a job in human resource department. Hearing that her company was planning to promote the Padma Metok Art Space, she volunteered to take charge of many things, ranging from the design, decoration, to the opening ceremony, devoting herself to building the artistic palace step by step.

Now, centering around the spread of new Tibetan culture, the Padma Metok Art Space devotes itself to inheriting, protecting and promoting Tibetan culture.

The exhibition room is visually stunning for its perfect integration of modern art and traditional Tibetan culture.

In the sales area, visitors can easily see a foreign girl, an employee there, introducing expertly the Tibetan jewelry and pictures rated to Tibet.

She is Julia, a Russian girl who is passionate about Chinese culture, especially Tibetan culture and artistic works. Therefore, she decided to find a job there after her graduation from Tianjin Foreign Studies University.

“My family hopes me back to Russia, but I insist to stay in China,” she said smilingly.

There are a lot of foreign visitors for the Padma Metok Art Space, most of whom are its big fans, for example, a foreign lady who works in Beijing comes there by bike every week and buys some Tibetan artistic works sometimes.