798 Art Zone: Where angelic babies meet plastic dinosaurs

A huge white baby with angel wings stands naked with arms open for all to see. Two young women stand in front of the baby making Victory V signs as their friend snaps pictures of them with a mobile phone.

Other people are making their way through a pack of growling wolves, searching for the perfect spot for their photo shoot. A small group of people strolled down an alley, and are now crawling into large wooden cages to have their photos taken with grimacing male giants. On another street a teenage boy squeezes between the bars of an oversized birdcage and starts acting out as a parrot, squawking and flapping imaginary wings. While not far from him a young girl is squeezing under the belly of a red dinosaur.

You could be forgiven for thinking these are the hallucinations of a schizophrenic, or a visit to some crazy fun park, but you would be wrong. This is just a typical day in Beijing – well typical for art lovers and curious tourists who enjoy schmoozing through 798 Art Zone.

798 Art Zone is China's answer to Greenwich Village and SoHo, a place where grungy buildings house art and has become the playground of all that is experimental. 798 is the place to come if you get a kick out of interacting with sculptures and installations – if you yearn to meet the Middle Kingdom's equivalents of Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and Banksy. This is the arty-farty nerve centre of Beijing.

798 Art Zone is located in Dashanzi, Chaoyang District, and offers a great day of entertainment and inspiration. Here, you can soak up the capital's past, present and future. It's not the easiest part of town to head out to as there is no nearby subway stop, and those not conversant with the bus routes may end up on the road to nowhere, anywhere and everywhere, so I recommend hopping in a cab. A taxi from Sanlitun to the area should cost around 20 yuan.

However, if you are keen to tackle public transport, take the subway to Dongzhimen station, hop on bus 909 and within 30 minutes you should reach your stop Dashanzi Lukounan.

798 Art Zone is a buzzing artist community that has sprung up in the midst of an old factory area. The 50-year-old decommissioned military factory buildings are of interest in themselves, being of unique architectural style. Factory #798 is just one of many buildings within the site that was formerly referred to as Joint Factory 718.

The site actually began as an extension of co-operation between the Soviet Union and the newly-formed People's Republic of China. By 1951, more than 150 "joint factory" projects had been set up, and before the decade was out East Germany had also teamed up with China. For the factories, the East Germans favoured a Bauhaus-influenced design over the more ornamental Soviet style. Large indoor spaces and an abundance of natural light were the signature design of the East German workplace.