WALLS where painters in Dafen Oil Painting Village in Longgang District hang their works will be allowed to stay for the time being, the Buji Subdistrict Office said Wednesday.
To tackle the problem of wall galleries at the root, the subdistrict office said it would set up oil painting supermarkets to help relocate the painters.
Painters display their work on 112 walls in Dafen village for which they pay 600 to 1,500 yuan (US$91-228) in rent.
An official notice was issued last month, ordering the walls to be demolished in an effort to beautify the environment along Shenhui Road for the Summer Universiade. The painters were urged to leave voluntarily, otherwise they would be forced.
After learning that the painters did not want to leave, the subdistrict office held a number of meetings to discuss the issue and finally decided that the walls could stay. Other illegal construction including dilapidated billboards, unlicensed roadside stalls and wires connected without authorization would still have to go.
The government paid attention to our plea and didn t force us to go. I m delighted to be able to display paintings on the wall again after the business was suspended for three days, said a painter surnamed He.
Occupying only 0.4 square kilometers, Dafen village is home to more than 80 oil painting companies, 800 galleries and more than 8,000 painters.
(SD News)
