Cultural relic auctions have been making the headlines this year, with prices of some items rocketing and mysterious bidders with large bags of cash showing up at sales.
In the light of the huge profits to be made, auction houses are springing up like mushrooms. But with more than 1,000 auction houses in major Chinese cities, problems exist.
To protect the rights of private collectors the amended Law on Cultural Relics Protection requires that public auctions of cultural relics are subject to stricter inspections by officials tasked with protecting the nation's heritage and the public from being swindled.
Quite a large chunk of the new laws are dedicated to the regulation of the purchase, sale and auction of cultural relics, which under existing laws are either vague or short of what is needed.
"The regulation on cultural relic auctions has been absolutely necessary to prosper the private collection market," said Peng Changxin, director of the general office of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH).
Peng said some of the existing 1,000 auction houses are legally and technically qualified to price and sell cultural relics, but some are not and simply contribute to the increasing number of worthless items to be found in the auctions.
The new law requires a licensing system of cultural relic auctions in-line with the Auction Law, which took effect in 1996.
Auction houses will be required to apply to SACH for a license before holding sales.
Meanwhile, each cultural relic to be auctioned will be subject to appraisal and approval by the related cultural relics department.
The sale and auction of cultural relics are strictly separated into two areas of business under the new laws, which also forbid the founding of joint ventures or foreign-owned cultural relic shops and auction houses.
The experts also urged private collectors to gain more expert knowledge before parting with their money.
"Many cultural relic lovers have exhausted their savings on their collections, but our experts can see everything they collected is fake," said Zhang Zhongpei, a professor at Jilin University.
"The collectors should learn to use the law to protect their own rights," Zhang added.
(China Daily November 15, 2002)
