Xiamen Rising: How a Port City Became China's Emerging Art Capital

On a humid evening in May 2016, a crowd gathered at an abandoned factory in Xiamen's Haicang District. Inside, massive projections illuminated the industrial bones of the space, while immersive sound installations echoed through the cavernous halls. This was the inaugural Xiamen International Art Festival—an ambitious attempt to establish a new cultural presence in China's southeastern coast. Few in attendance that night could have predicted how this experiment would transform both the city and the regional art landscape in less than a decade.

Xiamen's evolution from a secondary Chinese port city to an emerging cultural powerhouse represents a fascinating case study in how art can redefine urban identity. Unlike the state-backed cultural initiatives of Shanghai or the established art communities of Beijing, Xiamen's art scene emerged through a unique convergence of geography, entrepreneurial vision, and cultural policy—creating what many now see as the most dynamic art ecosystem in southern China.

"Xiamen offers something rare in China's art world—space to breathe," explains Liu Xiaodong, a curator who moved from Beijing to Xiamen in 2018. "The city has this distinctive combination of international outlook and intimate scale. Artists can experiment here without the pressures of Beijing or the commercial demands of Shanghai."

The roots of Xiamen's cultural rise lie in its unique history as a treaty port and Special Economic Zone. For centuries, this island city served as China's window to maritime Southeast Asia, with ties to Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia creating a distinctive regional sensibility. When China began its economic opening in the 1980s, Xiamen was among the first cities designated for foreign investment, creating a cosmopolitan atmosphere unusual for a city of its size.

But the decisive factor in Xiamen's artistic emergence was undoubtedly the establishment of Three Shadows Xiamen Photography Art Centre in 2015. When renowned artists RongRong and inri chose to open a southern branch of their acclaimed Beijing photography institution, they signaled that Xiamen might be ready for cultural prominence. "We saw in Xiamen what Beijing had twenty years ago," RongRong told me during a recent interview. "A place with authentic character, affordable spaces, and potential for artistic community. The light here—this coastal light—it's perfect for photography."

The Three Shadows gamble paid off spectacularly. Within a year, the center had attracted international attention, particularly through partnerships with France's Rencontres d'Arles photography festival. The newly established Jimei × Arles International Photo Festival brought global photographers and curators to Xiamen, creating the foundation for what would become the International Art Festival.

Crucially, Xiamen's cultural development coincided with President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, which emphasized the revival of historic maritime trade routes. Local officials recognized that art could position the city as a cultural node in this grand strategy. "We saw an opportunity to create a dialogue between Chinese artists and their counterparts across the Asia-Pacific," explains Chen Jingyan, one of the founding organizers. "Not just Southeast Asia, but Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea—places with their own distinct relationship to China but sharing this maritime connection."

This regional focus became the Xiamen International Art Festival's distinctive curatorial approach. Rather than attempting to compete with Venice or documenta's global scope, Xiamen has embraced its geographic specificity, exploring issues particularly relevant to the Asia-Pacific: environmental challenges, migration, colonial legacies, and traditions of craft and materiality.

The festival's distributed exhibition model also reflects Xiamen's unique character. Spread across multiple venues—from the contemporary gallery spaces of Three Shadows to the historic architecture of Gulangyu Island (a UNESCO World Heritage site)—the biennial encourages exploration of the city itself. Installations appear in repurposed factories, public parks, and along the seafront, creating a distinctive dialogue between art and urban space.

Perhaps most remarkably, Xiamen has managed to balance governmental support with artistic independence—no small feat in contemporary China. "There's been a genuine understanding among local officials that artistic freedom is essential to creating meaningful cultural impact," notes critic Wang Zhongshu. "They provide infrastructure support but have generally allowed curators significant autonomy in programming."

This approach has attracted leading artists from across the region. Indonesian multimedia artist Tintin Wulia, Japanese sculptor Kohei Nawa, and Chinese-Australian performance artist Tianzhuo Chen have all created significant works for recent editions, many engaging directly with Xiamen's maritime history and physical landscape.

The festival has also catalyzed a year-round cultural ecosystem. Since 2016, more than thirty galleries, artist-run spaces, and creative studios have opened throughout the city. The Chinese European Art Center, founded in 1999 but previously operating at a modest scale, has expanded its residency program substantially. Meanwhile, the Red Dot Design Museum Xiamen opened in 2020 in a striking converted airport terminal, bringing design-focused programming to complement the festival's fine art orientation.

Perhaps most significantly, artists themselves are relocating to Xiamen, attracted by affordable studio space and the growing creative community. The Haicang Art District, centered around former industrial buildings, now houses more than fifty artist studios, while the city's art academies are retaining graduates who previously would have departed for Beijing or overseas.

As the Xiamen International Art Festival prepares for its fifth edition in 2025, its influence extends far beyond the city limits. Other mid-sized Chinese cities are studying the "Xiamen model" of cultural development, while international curators increasingly view the festival as an essential window into Asian contemporary art trends.

"What makes Xiamen significant isn't just the biennial itself," concludes Liu Xiaodong. "It's that art has become integral to how the city understands its future. This isn't about creating a tourist spectacle or property development scheme disguised as cultural investment. It's about reimagining what a Chinese city can be in the 21st century—connected to global conversations while honoring its distinctive character and history."

As night falls over Xiamen harbor, projections once again illuminate the city's buildings. What began as an ambitious experiment has become something more profound—a new model for how art can transform urban identity and regional cultural dynamics in Asia's rapidly evolving landscape.