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 May 23-27: ArtTactic: Chinese Contemporary Art’s Resurgence Fueled By Chinese & Western Collectors Commissioned by this year’s Hong Kong International Art Fair (ART HK 11), which Jing Daily profiled on Monday, ArtTactic’s latest study on the Chinese contemporary art market is essential reading for anyone who wants to be not only informed about the artists, dealers, and auction houses that are currently redefining the Chinese art market but also the macro-level trends that make the Chinese contemporary art market one of the most dynamic in the world right now. Looking beyond the headlines and bombast, ArtTactic’s new study — available in English and Chinese at the ART HK VIP lounge or online — turns an objective eye to overall trends, analyzes recent auctions, tracks art market confidence, profiles China’s key blue-chip artists, sets out art market models, and (perhaps most importantly to Chinese collectors) includes a list of collector tips. Cheap Monday And Hong Kong Brand b+ab Team Up For Special Collection Fresh off of its recent collaborations with Disney and the Hong Kong model and actress Angelababy (Angela Yeung Wing), the Hong Kong-based womenswear brand b+ab, owned by local fashion superpower I.T., recently launched its newest design partnership with the Swedish fashion and jeans brand Cheap Monday. For the “b+ab x Cheap Monday” series, each brand infuses distinctive elements into four sets of collaborative bags, jeans and t-shirts. Founded in Hong Kong in 1995, b+ab is known for womenswear collections aimed at the “masstige” fashion segment. Mostly inspired by Japanese youth style, b+ab generally attracts a younger crowd than I.T. brands like Venilla Suite. Founded in Sweden in 2000, Cheap Monday has built a strong global following from its notoriously tight-fitting, reasonably priced skinny jeans. For their partnership, Cheap Monday’s traditionally monochrome colors like black, white and gray collide with the lively hot pinks, bright blues and crimson hues for which b+ab is known. Update: Spending By Chinese Tourists In London Rises 155 Percent In 2010 The rise of the mainland Chinese tourist-shopper, predicted several years ago by Chadha and Husband in their book The Cult of the Luxury Brand: Inside Asia’s Love Affair With Luxury, continues to make itself felt in key global markets like London. Last year, Jing Daily spoke to Linda Pilkington, founder of the London perfumery Ormonde Jayne, who told us that mainland Chinese tourists have seemingly come out of nowhere and, seemingly overnight, have reshaped the London high-end market, supplanting the once-ubiquitous Russians and rivaling cashed-up Middle Eastern shoppers on Bond Street, Jermyn Street and Savile Row. Unlike the Hong Kong Chinese tourists who preceded them, Pilkington said, mainland Chinese tourists typically travel in groups, shop with purpose, and — owing to the fact that few of the older travelers speak English — are less swayed by salespeople and marketing-speak. Qi Baishi Painting Sells For $65 Million In Beijing: What Could It Mean For HK Spring Auctions? He may not be a household name in Western countries, but over the past few years the Chinese painter Qi Baishi (齐白石, 1864-1957) has quietly emerged as one of the world’s top-selling artists on the strength of his popularity among cashed-up mainland Chinese collectors. As the global financial crisis hit international auction houses in 2009, emergent Chinese collectors pumped millions into works by Qi at domestic Chinese auctions, making his ascent appear even more dramatic, and following two years of strong sales, last year Qi Baishi trailed only Pablo Picasso in ArtPrice’s annual artist sales ranking with US$70 million in sales. This saw Qi, for the first time, surpass list stalwart Andy Warhol, an achievement that was not lost on the international art press. Now, in the wake of this weekend’s China Guardian spring auctions in Beijing, held this past weekend, Qi is back in the news. Thai Hotelier Anantara Announces First China Resort In Yunnan Having held off on the increasingly crowded China five-star hotel market during the 2007-2009 boom, Thailand’s Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas announced this week that it will make its official China debut this October with a flagship in the Xishuangbanna (西双版纳) autonomous prefecture of southwest China’s Yunnan Province. Based in Bangkok and operating 14 Asia-Pacific and Middle East resorts (as well as its spa brand in Africa), Anantara is in the midst of a major expansion set to coincide with the brand’s 10th anniversary, which will see the hotelier open nine new hotels and resorts in China, Vietnam, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Bali. Over the next four years, Anantara plans to expand its network in the Middle East, Indian Ocean region and Asia-Pacific to 50 resorts in all. In its announcement this week, Anantara indicated that it plans to heavily localize for the China domestic tourism market, starting with an official Chinese-language brand name: ānnàtǎlā (安纳塔拉).