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 March 29-April 2:
Beijing, International Auction Houses Expect Strong Bidding This Spring
Perhaps heartened by the higher-than-expected results at Asia Weekin New York, where Sotheby’s took in US$22.6 million — including a record $2,994,500 for classical Chinese artist Bada Shanren’s “Two Mynas on a Rock” — Chinese auction houses expect to see a strong spring auction season. As Jing Daily noted last week, domestic Chinese auction houses like China Guardian have good reason to be optimistic — according to the most recent ArtTactic Chinese art survey, China Guardian and another mainland Chinese auction house, Hanhai, reported a 70% increase in volume between 2008-2009. Additionally, ArtTactic found that domestic Chinese auction houses are now able to source higher-quality artwork, meaning Sotheby’s and Christie’s are facing formidable rivals in the Asian auction market.
Sino-French Relations “Linked Together By Luxury Goods”#
This week, the Chinese newspaper First Financial Daily (via Hexun) looks at the unique relationship shared by China and France, and investigates how commerce — more specifically, France selling luxury products or high-tech goods to China and China selling shoes and other consumer products to France — is helping to smooth over some of these countries’ disagreements.
Although the author criticizes France’s relative upper hand, noting that the France derives more profit selling one Airbus to China than China does selling 100 million pairs of shoes to France, the overall tone is supportive, noting that China could possibly learn something from France’s experience with “soft power.”
Jing Book Review: “New Media For A New China”#
The Western idea of ‘New Media’ commonly refers to digitized or computerized communication technologies. Rather than looking at these technologies themselves,
New Media for a New China
, edited by James F. Scotton and William A. Hachten, instead addresses the growth and adaptation of various traditional forms of media to the new sociopolitical environment of China. New Media is discussed as it pertains to China’s media industry, which has struggled to become profitable in the years following the cancellation of subsidies for state-owned television stations, and look the development of industries such as television amid the greatest transformation of the social and political dynamics in recent Chinese history.
Xu Bing’s $3 Million “Phoenixes” Go On Display In Beijing#
Last week, Jing Daily covered the announcement by the Taiwanese auction house Ravenel that it would unveil Chinese contemporary artist Xu Bing’s latest creation, his colossal “Phoenixes,” (which weigh in at a hefty 12 tons each) at the Today Art Museum in Beijing.
These twin phoenixes, commissioned by Ravenel and purchased by Taiwanese super-collector Lin Baili (Barry Lam) for 200 million RMB (US$2.93 million), mark a conceptual turning point for Xu Bing, as the sculptures take a more critical look at the human cost of China’s 30 years of economic transformation.
American States “Off The Beaten Path” Welcome Chinese Tourists#
Last month, Jing Daily looked at the huge increase in outbound tourismamong wealthy and middle-class mainland Chinese, who last year spent $42 billion overseas. As we wrote at that time, to cater to the growing ranks of Chinese outbound tourists,
Much like the increase in Japanese signage and other gestures that hotels and many tourist sites implemented in the 1980s when Japanese tourists began to venture outward in record numbers, we can expect to see more of these changes taking place to cater to the millions of mainland Chinese who are doing the same.