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 8-12:
Sotheby’s Contemporary Asian Art Auction: Top 10 Lots To Watch
Last month, Jing Daily wrote about the recent Sotheby’s art auction in London where 100% of the Chinese works up for grabs at the contemporary Western sale sold at or above estimates. At that time, we pointed out that upcoming Sotheby’s sales in Hong Kong — which run the gamut from contemporary Asian art to jewelry and fine wine — are expected to draw a large number of mainland collectors with new budgets and money allocated to collect art — “New Chinese Collectors” with money to burn.
So for collectors who are interested in making bids on lots in the upcoming Sotheby’s auction, as always it pays to be informed about what’s going to be on the block. In preparation for the wide-ranging Contemporary Asian Art auction on April 5, here are Jing Daily’s “Top 10 Lots To Watch.”
Gucci Learns To Speak Chinese#
The last decade has been good for Gucci in China, with the company going from a handful of boutiques in top-tier cities in 2000 to 30 locations in more than 20 cities today.
Expansion has sped up in the last five years, with store locations popping up in second-and third-tier markets like Changchun, Wuhan and Shijiazhuang– cities that may be little known outside of China but have growing ranks of new wealthy with a strong appetite for luxury goods.
Hedging Their Bets: What China’s Millionaires Are Buying#
As Jing Daily has noted before, for some things,like luxury cars, consumers in China have very specific needs, for which automakers have made adjustments (such as larger backseats) to localize the product.
In terms of luxury products, major brands have had to become more conscious of the rapid increase in consumer sophistication and low brand loyalty, increasing the quality of products offered in the China market and understanding that Chinese consumers of a certain income level generally prefer to purchase luxury goods outside the mainland.
Luxury “Created In China” May Come Sooner Than You Think#
Last year, Jing Daily wrote about the gradual emergence of home-grown Chinese luxury brands, which have incorporated traditional Chinese cultural and aesthetic traditions into their designs while displaying unmistakably global influences. With China surpassing the United States last year to become the world’s second-largest luxury market and the country quickly gaining ground on the longtime #1, Japan, not only will Chinese consumers be unwilling to have their voices ignored by luxury brands, Chinese luxury brands will look to get a piece of both Chinese and global market share.
Coming Next Week: Jing Daily Interview With Filmmaker Jia Zhangke
This month, New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is presenting a full retrospective of acclaimed Sixth Generation Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke. Running through March 20, the series opened this past Friday (March 5) with a screening of Shi Jie (The World), introduced by the director himself. Over the next three days, Jia introduced films at five more screenings, which were also attended by Zhao Tao, Jia’s leading actress since Platform (2000).