Week In Review: November 7-11, 2011

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 November 7-11. New Report Shows Chinese Contemporary Art Market Confidence Higher Than US & Europe Today, ArtTactic released its latest Chinese Contemporary Art Market Confidence Survey, which, like its last survey in April, shows that confidence in the Chinese contemporary art market remains high despite an overall drop in global confidence. Buoyed by mainland China’s new collectors, who have emerged as some of the world’s most voracious buyers of art, gold and jewelry, and fine wine since 2008, ArtTactic’s confidence indicator “remains strongly positive,” though the differences between domestic Chinese and international auction houses are becoming increasingly stark. While the sustainability of the current growth rates remains suspect, a majority of respondents continue to believe the Chinese contemporary art market will grow in the next six months. What all this boils down to is the same thing Jing Daily and other market observers have said over the past two years: the Chinese contemporary art market is inevitably moving towards quality. Interview: Chinese Tastemaker, Ye Qizheng Of Fashion Trend Digest China’s fashion industry may only be in its infancy, but with Chinese designers increasing their presence and visibility at events like the recent China International Fashion Week and Shanghai Fashion Week, and even expanding overseas, it may eventually become a global force to be reckoned with. With this in mind, Jing Daily recently spoke to the Shanghai-based editor of the influential news site Fashion Trend Digest, Ye Qizheng (叶琪峥) about the current status of China’s fashion industry, upcoming trends he expects to see taking shape, luxury consumption, and the internationalization of “designed-in-China” fashion labels. Interview translated from the original Mandarin Chinese. Luxury Second-Hand Shops Spreading Like Wildfire In China We’ve kept a close eye on the emergence of luxury second-hand shops in places like Shanghai and Shenyang, but with high-end consumption booming throughout China, these stores are now proliferating nationwide. Along with hugely popular chains like Milan Station, which was 2,100 times oversubscribed in its Hong Kong IPO this past May, dozens (if not hundreds) of “shanzhai Milan Stations” (山寨米兰站) have sprung up in cities like Chengdu, Dalian and Zhengzhou, as well as Beijing and Shanghai. Though “buyer beware” is very much the mantra at China’s second-hand luxury shops — many of which continue to stock the occasional counterfeit item — attractive prices and ample inventory make them irresistible for office workers who couldn’t otherwise afford authentic luxury goods. While arguably good for consumers, the rapid spread of second-hand shops throughout China is causing headaches for established chains. After Gold, Art & Wine, China’s Wealthy Collectors Stocking Up On Vintage Baijiu The emergence of Chinese collectors as a major force in the wine auction market may be pushing prices for top Bordeaux and Burgundy vintages higher and higher, but in China, their appetite for new investments has caused prices for high-end baijiu — traditional Chinese distilled spirits — to skyrocket. As Jing Daily wrote this February, the baijiu auction market is booming in mainland China, with rare vintages regularly selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars amid frenzied bidding. As Liu Yuan, general secretary of the National Association for Liquor and Spirits Circulation, recently said, this partly boils down to the pedigree, price and long history of the top baijiu brands, particularly Maotai. Said Liu, “Moutai has become China’s Louis Vuitton…Given the limited output and steep price, it’s a good way for officials to curry favor and for the rich to show off their wealth.” As we pointed out this summer, baijiu’s boom-times show no sign of stopping any time soon. At a Xiling auction house sale last December in Hangzhou, a bottle of 1958 Maotai sold for 1.4 million yuan (US$229,453), while China Guardian sold another bottle from 1958 for 910,000 yuan (US$143,410) just a few days later. Hong Kong’s Biggest Wine Auction Of Year Reflects Resilience Of China Demand Coming a little over a month after Sotheby’s Hong Kong failed to sell every bottle in a Bordeaux-heavy October 2 auction, all eyes were on this weekend’s two-day Acker Merrall & Condit Hong Kong sale of rare French wines. Though Chinese wine drinkers and collectors have increasingly diversified away from buying strictly Bordeaux, French wine continues to reign both in Hong Kong and mainland China at the high end of the market. As such, this weekend’s auction was expected to do well. But with 98 percent of lots sold, and the sale pulling in a grand total of US$14.5 million (making it Hong Kong’s biggest wine auction of the year), it far exceeded expectations. With the auction weighted towards rare and top-tier Burgundy, many bottles coming from the Don Stott Collection — considered a “reference library of great Burgundy” — and an impressive amount of Domaine de la Romanée Conti, the growing popularity of Burgundy was starkly apparent, with records falling left and right amid aggressive bidding.

Week In Review: November 7-11, 2011

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Published November 11, 2011

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Week In Review: November 7-11, 2011