China's contemporary art gets a boost from the sandwich class

The Chinese contemporary art market, which has cooled down since 2008, is gaining momentum again with increasing exposure on the global stage and rising numbers of middle-class collectors on the mainland.

Philip Tinari, director of Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing's 798 Art District, has recently been busy working with 17 Chinese art galleries to prepare for the Armory Show in New York in March, one of the largest art fairs in the United States. China will be the country featured in its "focus" session for the first time this year.

"So much has been happening in China's art market and so little of that has been visible outside China," said Tinari, who will curate the focus session. "I think it's the time in history when the world is looking to China and hoping there will be some new cultural voices to come out of it."

Tinari has witnessed the ups and downs of the market over the past few years, and described China as an emerging yet increasingly mature market.

"Especially, we've seen the level of interest from society in contemporary art has been growing," he said. "The base of local collectors is becoming bigger and the existing collectors have become more passionate and mature."

After taking off around 2003, the Chinese contemporary art market has experienced a roller-coaster ride over the past decade. Enthusiastic investors and speculators used to be the driving force for a market that kept pushing up the mainland prices for works of art and breaking auction records.