Main Auction Houses To Enter Chinese Market
Paul Denlinger's
Speaking Calendar:
--Localization
World, Nov. 16, San Francisco
Christies and Sotheby's, two of the world's leading art
and collectibles auction houses, are due to start doing
business in China in December. Their entry into China
is required by the terms of China's accession into the
World Trade Organization (WTO), which China joined in
2001.
China is already home to several leading auction houses
which sell to the country's increasingly prosperous middle
and upper class. Both modern and classical Chinese art
items have been very popular.
Up until now, Christies and Sotheby's have served their
growing Chinese clientele by having major auctions in
Hong Kong. New York, London, Geneva and Paris are the
leading international auction centers along with Hong
Kong, with Singapore and Tokyo as secondary markets in
Asia. With the new regulations, the leading firms will
establish themselves in Shanghai and Beijing first, with
presences in other Chinese cities to follow.
There are certain challenges peculiar to the Chinese
market. Like Italy, the country has a rich cultural heritage,
and smuggling of major art pieces out of the country has
always been a problem. Although government ministries
try to regulate and prevent the smuggling of art pieces
out of the country, the problem continues. In some cases,
this has led to disputes with the Hong Kong authorities.
Another issue is classification of major art pieces as
cultural relics. Often the classification of what is "classical"
and cannot be taken out of the country is arbitrarily
enforced, leading to confusion in the marketplace.
Many major works of Chinese art were taken out of the
country in the 19th century, when the country was relatively
weak, by British and French military forces and western
businessmen. Now, newly wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs
have been paying record prices to bring these major works
back to China, where they are donated to public museums
or are added to private collections.
Another group which as done well is modern Chinese artists,
whose works were first collected by westerners in the
eighties and nineties, but are now getting an increasing
domestic following.
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