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 January 9-13: What Luxury Brands Should Learn From Dolce & Gabbana’s Hong Kong PR Disaster One of the biggest stories of this past weekend in Hong Kong was a massive, Facebook-organized protest of the Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana after a security guard prevented locals from taking photographs outside of its flagship in Tsim Sha Tsui last week. Checking into the story, a photographer from the Apple Daily reported on January 5 that he was told by a security guard that only mainland Chinese or foreign tourists were allowed to take photos outside the store, with another guard allegedly threatening to break his camera. Within hours, the story had set off a firestorm of criticism in the city, with angry Hong Kong locals taking to Facebook to speak out about what they saw as tantamount to discrimination, leaving hundreds of messages on Dolce & Gabbana’s wall demanding the brand apologize or pack up and leave Hong Kong altogether. Over the weekend, more than Facebook users in Hong Kong joined together to organize a protest of Dolce & Gabbana’s Tsim Sha Tsui flagship, creating a “10,000 People Photograph D&G Event” (D&G門口萬人影相活動) page now “liked” by nearly 20,000 fans, with around 1,000 protestors actually taking to the streets yesterday. Chinese Artists Unseat Picasso, Warhol As Top 2011 Auction Earners Any question about the willingness of China’s new generation of art collectors to shell out on top-quality artwork in 2011 has been put to rest, with the news that the Chinese artist Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) was the top auction earner of the year, unseating long-time leader Pablo Picasso. According to a report by the French research company Artprice, Zhang’s works sold at auction last year for a total of US$506.7 million, with another Chinese artist, Qi Baishi (1864-1957) coming in at second with $445.1 million. Trailing Andy Warhol, Picasso was ranked fourth at $311.6 million, with another Chinese artist, Xu Beihong (1895-1953), totaling $212.9 million. Coach Takes To Weibo With Year Of The Dragon E-Cards Continuing its Year of the Dragon collaboration with artist Zhang Lan, Coach recently launched a special e-card feature on its official Chinese-language website, designed to let people share Chinese New Year greetings with friends. The latest in a string of limited-edition collections created by brands in preparation for the traditional Chinese holiday, the ”Coach Greeting Red Pocket” (Coach祝福红包) — lets users personalize e-cards with their own messages or use one of 12 pre-made templates, wishing friends well in business, health and relationships. After personalizing their Coach e-cards, users can post them to their Sina Weibo pages or send to friends via email. Will Acquisition Of Ferretti Spur China’s Yachting Industry? Though the purchase of a brand with the heritage and reputation of Ferretti — and for so cheap — is obviously a coup for the Shandong Group, whether it will actually spur the industry in China is questionable. While new marinas and resorts dot the coastline in China, Chinese millionaires look to buy “toys” like airplanes and yachts, and yachtmakers from around the world continue to crowd into Hainan island, it will likely take years before the Chinese yacht industry truly heats up. Still, it appears that Chinese companies looking to get involved in the yacht industry are taking a long view — acquiring legacy brands while EU economies are relatively weak, setting up their own factories, and hedging their bets that stiff luxury taxes will diminish the threat from foreign competitors for years to come. Auction Houses Squeeze In Hong Kong Wine Sales Ahead Of Chinese New Year Coming off a record-breaking 2011, during which Christie’s Hong Kong sales rose 92 percent and Sotheby’s recorded its second highest annual takings in 41 years of wine sales, major auction houses are wasting no time taking advantage of continued momentum in Hong Kong, the world’s top wine auction market. Looking to get a series of sales in before Chinese New Year, this weekend Acker Merrall & Condit and Sotheby’s will follow Zachys in offering many of the wines to which Chinese collectors have gravitated in recent auctions, including a double magnum of 1870 Château Lafite, rare bottles from Burgundy producer Henri Jayer and 90-year old Champagne. Following the shift we saw over the course of 2011 among Chinese collectors, moving from strictly red Bordeaux from top producers like Lafite and Latour towards Burgundies such as Domaine de la Romanée-Conti (DRC), observers expect top-tier Burgundy to be a bright spot in the run-up to Chinese New Year. Tweet Follow @JingDaily