Chinese buyers are willing to pay more out of national pride
The emergence of the mainland as an economic power has fuelled a boom in Chinese art that experts say is merely the beginning of a sustained upswing in prices for fine art.
The market is being driven not only by demand from wealthy Chinese buyers but also by dealers eager to build inventories because the supply of quality work is limited.
The bullish sentiment is also based on a perception that feelings of national pride will make Chinese buyers willing to pay more for the best work.
Art repatriation has become a driving force in the Chinese art market since 2000, when the Poly Group, a state-owned company, paid $31 million to buy back at auction three bronze animal heads that were part of a water clock at the Yuan Ming Yuan imperial summer palace, which was ransacked in 1860 by Anglo-French forces.
The Cultural Relic Law of 2002 also liberalised the trading and import of artworks, according to Wen Guihua , general manager of Beijing Hanhai Auction.
'For over a hundred years, Chinese artwork only flew out of China. The reversal was historic,' she says.