Jing Daily’s Top Posts for the Week#
In case you missed them the first time around, here are some of Jing Daily’s top posts for the week of February 21-25:
2010 “Art Power” Awards Ceremony Held In Beijing: Zhou Chunya Tops, Ai Weiwei Outside
This week, BMW and Art Value Magazine (艺术财经) held the fourth annual “Chinese Contemporary Art Power” awards ceremony in Beijing’s 798 arts district, celebrating the work of some of China’s top artists, curators, galleries and arts institutions. Reflecting on the year in Chinese contemporary art, the key word during the event was “upward,” as the year marked a turnaround from the comparatively dour mood that prevailed in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2009.
With 2010 being the year that blue-chip Chinese contemporary artists once again gained global recognition and new Chinese collectors drove Chinese art towards a “second boom,” this week’s “Art Power” awards had a lot of ground to cover.
Chloé Celebrates 5th Anniversary In China With Runway Show Webstream (PHOTOS)
Tonight in Shanghai, Chloé hosted its largest-ever runway show to continue the celebration of the brand’s fifth anniversary in China, which started with a China-only edition Marcie bag. Held at the Shanghai Expo Center, the show was broadcast live online, marketing the first time Chloé had used webcasting for one of its seasonal shows.
In preparation for the show, Chloé launched an interactive Chinese-language blog, “Je Suis Chloé,” where visitors could vote on favorite models, see behind-the-scenes footage and watch the show’s day-of activities. Finally kicking off tonight in Shanghai, Chloé’s webcast began at 9:00 PM and lasted for around one hour. Currently, the site on which the show was available currently displays only has a Chloé banner, and it’s currently unclear whether the event footage will be available for later viewing online.
Boom Times For Vintage Baijiu, Chinese “White Lightning”
With prices for Moutai (茅台), China’s most popular brand of premium baijiu (distilled sorghum spirits), spiking in recent months amid soaring demand and ostensibly dwindling supply, and rampant counterfeiting causing the company to release special imprints with extreme security features, the country’s fever for high-end Chinese “white lightning” is now starting to light up the auction market. Much as Chinese collectors have caused prices for favored wine vintages like Chateau Lafite ‘82 to skyrocket at auction in Hong Kong to “insane” levels, well-heeled Moutai lovers are bidding hundreds of thousands of dollars for rare vintage bottles, prices that only a few years ago would have seemed outlandish. In response to the swelling demand for 1950s and ’60s Moutai, domestic Chinese auction houses are now scouring the country, “Antiques Roadshow“-style, searching for old bottles.
Despite the far lower demand for baijiu outside of China — bottles of Moutai can be procured in New York’s Chinatown for around half of what they’d cost in China — in China rare or expensive bottles carry a prestige that’s hard to overstate.
China To Fund $2.6 Billion, Build Sprawling Resort In Bahamas
Yesterday, a ceremony was held in the Bahamas marking the beginning of construction on a $3.4 billion resort project, $2.6 billion of which will be China-funded. The Baha Mar project was conceived by the Bahamas-based billionaire investors the Izmirlian family, along with their financing and construction partners, the China Export-Import Bank and China State Construction. The Baha Mar project, a resort, gaming, and entertainment complex, is slated to open in late 2014.
China’s ambassador to the Bahamas, Hu Dingxian, believed that this was “another milestone” in the development of the bilateral relationship, and said that “more and more Chinese investors will be coming to the Bahamas to seek investment and co-operation.”
Ralph Lauren Latest To Debut “Neo-Chinoiserie” Collection; Will Chinese Shoppers Care?
Fashion Week in New York came to a close last week, and an interesting highlight turned out to be classic American design house Ralph Lauren, who debuted a China-influenced Fall/Winter 2011 collection. The show contained cheongsam-inspired dresses, mandarin collars and Chinese embroidery featuring dragons, and was blatant in its inspiration, with models wearing jade earrings and a soundtrack featuring a cover version of David Bowie’s “China Girl.”
Tapping all that China has to offer, Ralph Lauren also drafted several Chinese models for his runway show, including opener Sui He, as well as Liu Wen, Jing Ma, and Ming Xi.