Nearly 130,000 Ring in 2026 at Beijing's 798 Art District
BEIJING, Jan. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As the final hours of 2025 slipped away, Beijing's 798 Art District became an open-air stage where art, technology and public life converged to welcome the new year.
The New Year's Eve celebration, Starts New Year with Art: 2026 New Year's Eve Countdown at 798, unfolded across the district's full 520,000 square meters, drawing nearly 130,000 visitors. Organized around one landmark-scale centerpiece, eight themed venues and dozens of accompanying programs, the event offered an alternative to conventional countdown spectacles — one grounded in contemporary art, industrial heritage, and collective participation.
Nearly 200 galleries, museums, performance spaces and businesses extended their hours into the night, creating a rare late-night cultural ecosystem that blended exhibitions, live music, light installations, and creative markets, blurring the boundaries between culture, commerce, and public space.
This year's countdown departed from the single-clock tradition. Instead, six synchronized countdown sites were distributed across the district. The most striking appeared on the district's iconic No. 6 chimney, where Woven Light Chronicles, a digital artwork by a team led by artist Wang Zhigang, transformed the industrial landmark into a vertical canvas of light. Nearby, the massive oil tank known as "79 Tank" hosted Endless Circle, a time-based light installation projected onto concrete and steel.
From large-scale LED screens at Power Square to projections beneath the Twin Tower and along factory walls and archways, visitors encountered the arrival of 2026 wherever they stood.
Public participation was central to the night. A newly expanded installation reading "Dear Beijing, Happy New Year" became a focal point for photographs, while illuminated trees carried handwritten wishes from visitors. Elsewhere, playful installations invited the public to symbolically leave behind the anxieties of the past year.
Performances unfolded across the district in dialogue with public art. Folk-rock band Wu Tiao Ren and electronic band Nova Heart headlined the main stage, while cross-disciplinary works combined live music, visual art, and dance. Traditional culture also took center stage, with classical dance, fish-lantern parades, and contemporary reinterpretations of lion dances weaving through the crowds.
Designated as a national nighttime cultural and tourism hub, the 798 Art District continues to position art as a driver of urban vitality. Several installations from the event will remain on view through the vacation, extending the celebration into the first days of 2026.
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SOURCE 798 Art District
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