Week In Review: September 19-23

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 September 19-23. One Year Of Shang Xia: Jing Daily Exclusive Interview With Jiang Qiong’er (Part One) Situated at Hong Kong Plaza on Huaihai Road and led by artistic director and CEO, Jiang Qiong’er, Shang Xia is perhaps the only premium brand from mainland China that turns to age-old techniques and traditional and rare materials to create contemporary jewelry, apparel, porcelain and home decorations collections. Recently, as Shang Xia prepared for the launch of its new “Human and Nature” collection and the debut of its exhibition at Sinan Mansions — for which the brand has outfitted a villa with bamboo, incense and pebbles to showcase a new series of photographs by Paolo Roversi (running through October 12) — Jing Daily editor Avery Booker sat down for a two-part interview with Jiang Qiong’er about Shang Xia’s first anniversary, the burgeoning appreciation for Chinese design now spreading among more sophisticated urban Chinese, and her plans for brand expansion. Sotheby’s Contemporary Asian Art Auction In Hong Kong (October 3): Top 10 Lots To Watch Coming one day after the sprawling second installment of the Ullens collection auction series (previously on Jing Daily), the upcoming Contemporary Asian Art auction at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong is sure to see the same spirited bidding that characterized its counterpart last April. This time around, look for more works by Zhang, Liu, and sought-after top-tier Chinese artists like Fang Lijun, Zeng Fanzhi, Wang Keping, Yang Shaobin and Xu Bing to keep the bids coming in strong. With many of the issues that are motivating wealthy new Chinese collectors to head to Hong Kong to bid for historical and quality art, antiques, wine, and jewelry — inflation, a touchy real estate market and an unreliable stock market — remaining pressing, expect mainland collectors to come out swinging. Interview: Chef David Laris On Fine Dining In Shanghai (Part One / Part Two) Since arriving in Shanghai nearly a decade ago, Australian chef David Laris has become a fixture in the city’s rapidly evolving fine dining scene. Arriving at Three at the Bund in 2002 from London, where he made a name for himself as the head of Sir Terence Conran’s flagship restaurant, Mezzo, Laris led his pioneering Laris Restaurant from 2003-2010, paving the way in terms of building the market for contemporary fine dining in Shanghai. Currently, Laris operates seven F&B concepts across 11 locations in Shanghai, including his Yucca Lounge, Mediterranean-infused Fat Olive, and most recently, 12 Chairs — “one of the smallest fine dining restaurants in China.” In October, Laris will open his first Chinese restaurant, Le Sheng (乐笙). Headed by a team of local Shanghainese chefs and featuring a curated list of Chinese teas, Le Sheng will be located on Shanghai’s Anfu Lu. As part of our “Eye on Shanghai” series, Jing Daily editor Avery Booker recently sat down with David Laris at the Fat Olive in Sinan Mansions to discuss Shanghai’s evolution as a fine dining destination, the changing tastes of local diners, and the age-old question, “Beijing or Shanghai?” How China’s “Princeling” Backlash Could Impact Its Luxury Market Conspicuous luxury consumption may not be on its deathbed quite yet in China, but in the country’s largest and wealthiest cities, online scandals and netizen outrage may ultimately put the last nails in bling’s coffin. This April, in a stated attempt to defuse social tensions about a widening wealth gap, Beijing was the first Chinese city to put the brakes on overly “decadent” outdoor advertising, putting the kibosh on ads promoting (in the government’s words) “hedonism, lavishness and the worship of foreign things.” As Jing Daily noted at the time, ”Beijing’s new campaign should have little actual effect on the city’s fast-growing luxury market…[but] the ban shows that right now, in the words of one article, “luxury is a dirty word” in Beijing. (In public, at least.)” New York Auctions Fueling Sotheby’s, Christie’s Dominance In Hong Kong Over this past weekend, both Sotheby’s and Christie’s saw strong results at a sprawling set of auctions in New York, as a relatively new set of buyers in the city — mainland Chinese dealers and collectors — crushed estimates to get their hands on important jade carvings, antique furniture, and bronze artifacts. Continuing to show their preference for anything and everything related to the early Qing Dynasty and Qing emperor Qianlong (1711-1799), at Sotheby’s Chinese Works of Art auction, Chinese collectors were instrumental in the sale of 225 of the 335 works on offer (67 percent), pushing the auction to a very impressive US$22.7 million total.

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Week In Review: September 19-23