The market for Chinese art continues to expand at a staggering rate.

Artworks, especially oil paintings, created by Chinese artists, are being chased by both domestic and international art-lovers and collectors.

The trend is best reflected by the soaring rise in prices.

According to media reports, before 2002, with the impact of the Asian economic crisis still lingering, the price of oil paintings in China was very low. Many larger auction houses even cancelled oil painting auctions because the business was not profitable.

Today, however, there are over 15 auction houses specializing in oils in Beijing alone.

May and June this year witnessed a boom with major sales in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou back to back, and it seems the trend will continue in July.

The figures speak for themselves. In 1993, the annual sales volume of the national auction house Guardian, established in 1993, stood at around 20 million yuan (US$2.41 million). This year, its spring auctions involved some 80 million yuan (US$9.64 million).

One Sunny Day, an oil painting by Chen Yifei (1946-2005), sold for a record 4.4 million yuan (US$530,000), greatly exceeding the guide price of 800,000 yuan (US$96,400).

According to the British daily Telegraph in late May, about 750 million yuan (US$93.8 million) was spent in the course of two days in auctions at Christie's in Hong Kong, 40 per cent more than was spent at their last sale in November 2004. Of that sum, about 220 million yuan (US$26.6 million) went on Chinese oil paintings.

Hamlet, a 1940s landscape by Lin Fengmian, quadrupled its estimate to sell for about 5.73 million yuan (US$690,400), and a screen painted with ink and gunpowder in 1991 by New York-based artist Cai Guoqiang sold for about 4.63 million (US$557,800).

And a large 1985 abstract painting by Zao Wou-Ki (Zhao Wuji), who lived in Paris from 1948, sold for about 17.02 million yuan (US$2.05 million), a record for any Chinese oil painting.

According to art dealer Wang Yun, the price of many Chinese oil paintings has skyrocketed, in some cases by hundreds of times since the 1980s.

The maturity of the domestic art market is part of the reason behind this.

Insiders believe the increase in prices actually reflects the improvement in artistic value of Chinese oil paintings.

"In some renowned European galleries, works of Zao Wou-Ki and Zhu Dequn were exhibited together with masters such as Picasso and Salvador Dali. This is actually a metaphor of the status of Chinese oil paintings," said Wang Yun.

Wang also believes that the rapid growth of the art market in China indicates a growing need for cultural products, as the need for basic life necessities for many has been satisfied.

And he believes with further economic growth, there remains much room for future development of the art market.

Compared with works of foreign artists, Chinese oil paintings still sell cheaply. For example, some renowned Japanese oil paintings will sell for between 30 million yuan (US$3.6 million) and 70 million yuan (US$8.5 million).

Hong Pingtao, general manager of Poly Shanghai Arts Auction Co Ltd, is also optimistic about the prospects of the mainland art market.

"The market now is not in good order though, but this is only temporary. It will become more prosperous and healthier," he said.

(China Daily June 30, 2005)