Since 1989, the area has been an artists' village for the production of replicas of masterworks and outsourcing of original art creation as a specialised urban cottage industry.
They produced dozens of replicas daily of oil paintings by masters such as Vincent van Gogh, Salvador Dalí, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Andy Warhol.
[4] After the 2007–2008 financial crisis, Western demand declined and domestic buyers ordered Chinese art copies, forcing a change in style.
Previously, talent was needed in the production, but the village has innovated with "large scale printers and clusters of tablets and phones ... use[d] for templating", so that minimal training is required.
[6] Official policy states that the replicas produced at Dafen Oil Painting Village are copied from artists who have died more than fifty years ago, and consequently out of copyright.