Fancy hunting down a bargain at an incredibly large art market selling contemporary Chinese works this weekend?

The Millennium Art Museum situated by the China Millennium Monument in Beijing is the place to be for those with a tongue for haggling. The 11th China Art Exposition, which opens at the museum until September 21, includes more than 500 Chinese artists and galleries from around the country.

The 1,000 works on sale range from oil paintings, traditional Chinese paintings, watercolours, prints, sculptures to lacquer works, ceramics and traditional furnitures.

Hosted by the China Arts and Culture Co Ltd, the annual China Art Exposition has become one of the most prestigious art fairs in the country since it was launched in 1994.

With stalls rented to sellers at 6,000 yuan (US$723), the expo has been a stage for Chinese artists who have yet to find fame and fortune.

"The three of us rented a stall together. Things will be perfect if we can sell something, but we also want the attention of visiting critics and galleries," said Huang Yousheng, an oil painter from Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

In spite of its grand size, the fair has been criticized for the "mediocre quality of works included," according to Han Mo, a Beijing-based art scholar. "There is a wretched quality to some pieces," he added.

Shao Dazhen, a renowned art historian with the Central Academy of Fine Arts, was less harsh in his critique. "The average quality of the art pieces has apparently improved this year, partly because of the participation of local artists' associations," he said.

The China Art Expo was the only large-scale expo in the early 1990s, but today it has dozens of competitors in the country, including the Shanghai Spring Art Fair and the China Gallery Exposition in Beijing.

To improve the fair's attraction, a special zone has been set up at the museum, in which professors with major art academies in China have their works displayed and are offered for sale.

Chinese and foreign art publishing houses also have stalls at the fair.

And the Russian art fair is also holding a display at the museum, backed by the Russian Embassy in Beijing, which includes oil paintings by more than 100 Russian artists.

(China Daily September 17, 2004)