Dafen Oil Painting Village is one of Shenzhen's most unusual attractions — an entire neighbourhood in the Longgang District given over to the production and sale of oil paintings. What started as a small enclave of replica painters in the 1980s has grown into a community of thousands, lined with studios, galleries, and warehouses stacked floor to ceiling with canvases.
The majority of the work is reproduction: walk in with a photograph and walk out with a finished oil painting in a few days. The range is staggering — anything from a Chinese Yuan portrait to a Klimt or a Van Gogh. But Dafen is also home to original artists who have set up studios alongside the replica trade, and the art market at the village centre mixes both. It's an oddly fascinating place: the skill is real, the product is mass-market, and the scale of the whole operation is difficult to comprehend until you're walking through the lanes.
Dafen is easiest to reach by metro (Dafen station on Line 3, then a short walk). Mornings are best for watching painters at work before the tourist coaches arrive.