A colour ink painting depicting 40 parrots on trees -- by 86-year-old artist Wu Guanzhong -- went under the hammer for 30 million yuan (US$3.7 million) yesterday, setting a world record for its genre or, indeed, any piece of contemporary Chinese art work.

A block of four Chinese stamps and a Chinese oil painting were also sold for record prices at the same and an earlier auction.

The former world record for a Chinese ink painting of birds by 12th-century Emperor Huizong was 23 million yuan (US$2.77 million) at a Beijing auction in April 2002.

The stamps, which were used in 1942 in areas controlled by the Communist Party of China during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), fetched 2.2 million yuan (US$277,000).

The stamps were for the use of newspaper reporters to send telegrams, according to He Xin of China Guardian Auction Co Ltd.

The previous world record for Chinese stamps 1.8 million yuan (US$222,000) was set at a Beijing auction in spring.

But it is much lower than the world record, set last Wednesday by a block of four US airmail error stamps, which went for US$3 million, according to the New York Times.

On Sunday, Portrait of Ms Jenny, a 1939 oil painting by Chinese artist and art educator Xu Beihong (1895-1953), was sold for 22 million yuan (US$2.7 million).

The previous record in this category was set in May in Hong Kong "Juin-October 1985" by Paris-based Chinese artist Zao Wou-ki went for HK$18.04 million (US$2.31 million) at a Christie's auction.

"The market is a bit crazy. Of course, Wu is a master artist, but how could the price exceed that of the work by Emperor Huizong, who created one of the greatest works of art in Chinese history?" asked a researcher with the National Museum of China surnamed Shi.

But Li Da, general manager of the newly founded Beijing Poly Art Auctions Co Ltd, which conducted the auction, said that industry insiders expected the records.

Mainland buyers of Chinese art are mainly the nouveau riche, typically real estate developers, bankers and securities investors in their 30s and 40s, she said.

Many of them favour contemporary, rather than ancient, art, she added.

Guo, a Chinese Indonesian who bought Wu's painting, said collectors from across the world are flocking to Beijing in search of good art.

(China Daily November 8, 2005)