As global appeal of Chinese artworks loses lustre, can domestic collectors reframe the industry?

Though many welcomed China’s reopening after three years of pandemic restrictions, art trader Chiang Lim-che’s disappointment was palpable – not over the relaxing of protocols, but at the muted, almost nonexistent reception from overseas buyers as a host of Chinese pieces became newly available.

The dealer, from Hong Kong, was framing the situation as a means of rekindling interest for his wares, but years of momentum that moulded Western interest in Chinese art collections began to crack as the country painted itself into a corner with stringent zero-Covid measures and brushed off a decline in trade relationships.

To adapt, Chiang has recast his attention inward, and burgeoning interest from the younger generation of Chinese collectors now comes as music to his ears.

Top artworks by established Chinese artists are still sought-after by high-net-worth individuals, but Western collectors’ appetite for other Chinese art has quickly faded, Chiang observed.

“Geopolitical complications – especially China’s tensions with the US-led West – seem to have hit the once-booming overseas enthusiasm for Chinese art,” said Chiang, who has decades of experience in the art business.

Across the border from Hong Kong in Guangdong province, Chiang runs a large storage house in Guangzhou’s Nansha district that spans more than 20,000 square metres. It’s filled with tens of thousands of pieces of traditional Chinese furniture that he has amassed from home and abroad.

He points to sets of “eight immortals” – traditional tables that seat eight and can cost thousands of dollars – along with an assortment of sandalwood desks, closets, lampstands and various wood carvings.