Dafen is a small village whose purpose is to mass produce fake, copied oil paintings with very cheap price.
To us, Dafen is obviously one of bright spots to visit in Shenzhen – a very crowded and busy city in China. Meandering in Dafen may bring you a very good and peaceful moment to escape from all troubles you might be shocked when living in China: people spit anytime and anywhere, speak loudly as they are home…
Of course, we will also meet many spitters in Dafen, but you might not notice to it because you are surely concentrating your attention on the village ambiance with thousands of paintings which copied from Western artworks, Chinese landscape paintings, portraits or everything you want a replica.
A welcome statue standing at the entrance:
Wandering through narrow lanes, searching every nook and cranny, you are just able to ‘wow’. All of them are to serve painting, painting, and painting.
Painters can sit anywhere in a tight corner, a narrow alley, or an untidy small room to make a copy. All they need is a picture/photograph. They hold the picture in one hand, studying it, and making a replica.
I think it’s a shame when calling them as artists. They might be the talents, but their works are just fake arts, no creative and soulless. Just saying, I of course don’t blame them at all. Watching them working is amazing, sometimes we were jaw dropped in astonishment “Wow, look at this, how wonderful it is! Look so real! My Goodness!’ 😀
If you want to buy something here, bargain is really needed indeed! If I have another chance to visit, I will buy Starbucks coffee with my favorite flavor before getting here because coffee shops around this village are very expensive and tasteless.
One of us was masquerading as a painter 😀 😀 😀
smile wanderer 