Having Your Art and Eating It Too.docVIP

Having Your Art and Eating It Too 　　IN May 1900, a Briton spent 10 pounds for an old Chinese vase. On July 15, 2005, his offspring sold the vase for pound;3.5 million. Over a century plagued by two world wars and miscellaneous other crises, the value of this collectable accrued at an average rate of 1,000 percent per day. Prominent and reputable Chinese art collector and connoisseur Ma Weidu tells this story to illustrate why art collecting, encouraged by such extreme profits, has become vogue in China. 　　 　　Fever Rising 　　 　　According to a report issued last November by the Art Market Analysis and Research Center of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the gradual recovery from the global financial crisis was accompanied by signs the Chinese art market was picking up in the third quarter of 2009. During the autumn auction season, Chinese auctioneers took bids on four items that finally went for sums in excess of RMB 100 million; the highest, at RMB 151 million, was Eighteen Arhats by Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) painter Wu Bin. 　　The inherent aesthetic pleasure and promise of profits make the collection of art a temptation to millions of ordinary people; art hounds are joining the ranks of art connoisseurs at a remarkable rate. According to estimates from circles of collectors, 70 million Chinese citizens are involved in this expensive hobby, and many believe the actual number is much higher than that. Old porcelain, jade ware, paintings, calligraphy pieces, coins, and furniture ?C almost everything that can be found in the troves of established collectors ?C will make fascinating collectables for the average enthusiast. 　　TV stations have been instrumental in stoking public fever. In recent years CCTV and many local stations have slotted participatory art collection shows into peak hours of programming. Much like the Antique Road Show, a British favorite that spawned an American and then Canadian version, the cultural relics specialists share their discriminat