China

M+ becomes one of the most-popular art museums in Asia, despite Covid closures

The new Hong Kong museum attracted more than 2 million people in its first full year

Will China’s museums still come out on top despite harsh Covid rules?

For much of 2022, Chinese cities were either in lockdown or braced for one

Half of Van Gogh’s most expensive paintings have sold to Chinese collectors

The burgeoning growth of the East Asian market pushes up prices for the artist’s work

Art Basel in Hong Kong bounces back as Covid restrictions lifted

The art fair will have 177 galleries this year, compared with 134 in 2022, but still fewer than before the pandemic

Chinanews

As 2023 dawns, the blank A4 sheet—brandished by protestors in China—is a potent political and artistic symbol

The white-paper revolution echoes art history, recalling Robert Ryman and the Philippines-based artist Kiri Dalena

Fairsnews

China’s art fairs get unexpected end-of-year boost as Covid-19 restrictions ease

Shanghai Art021, which was dramatically shut in November because of a single Covid case, is staging a two-location pop-up this month

Chinanews

Chinese government investigates sexual assault claims in art institutions

Enquiry prompted over wave of accusations at a major Beijing arts school

Art marketanalysis

Despite Shanghai fairs Art021 and West Bund shutting early due to Covid concerns, dealers report decent sales

Collectors were fewer and more local, but the moderate success of some galleries attests to the city’s enduring commercial cache

Chinanews

Trove of terracotta figurines discovered in ancient Chinese tomb

An archaeological team from the Datong Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has unearthed a trove of well-preserved figures that provide a glimpse at life in the region 1,500 years ago

Chinaanalysis

‘Walls close in’ on China's art world as President Xi Jinping lays out cultural agenda

An "ideological tightening" is spreading through the country as its leader begins a norms-defying third five-year term

Shanghai's Art021 fair closes after just one day, apparently due to a single positive Covid-19 case

Event's founders says the decision was made to "effectively protect the health and public health safety of the exhibitors"

Shanghai looks to West Bund and Art021 fairs for economic boost as fresh lockdowns leave buyers cautious

Week-long hotel quarantines are still required of all international and Hong Kong arrivals to the mainland, deterring all but the most determined dealers

Phillips partners with Beijing auction house Yongle for series of joint sales

Joint venture announced amid declining sales figures at Chinese auction house

Swiss art dealer Yves Bouvier sells Singapore freeport to Chinese crypto billionaire Jihan Wu for a reported $28.4m

Sale marks a significant loss for Bouvier, who paid $70m to build the state-of-the-art facility in 2010

Uffizi loan of self-portraits to the Bund One Art Museum opens ten-exhibition series in Shanghai

Show of works by 48 artists, from Bernini to Chagall, is first in a five-year programme worth €6m to the Florence museum

Which East Asian city will become the region's next market hub?

While Seoul is now the main contender to take Hong Kong's prime position, Tokyo and Taipei also present attractive prospects for the art trade

One of China’s oldest private art museums to close as Covid lockdowns lead to economic slump

The Guangdong Times Museum in Guangzhou will shut its exhibition space on 9 October

Hong Kong billionaire to build $1.4bn cultural complex on the coast of China's Shenzhen

Adrian Cheng's newest development K11 ECOAST is scheduled to open in 2024

China’s zero Covid restrictions have had significant impact on country’s commercial art scene

New report reveals that 77% of galleries had lower sales this year compared to last, while several art fairs were cancelled

New venues open in Hong Kong and Taiwan amid tense relations with China

The directors of the Hong Kong Palace Museum and Taipei Performing Arts Center both state that they are free of censorship

Animal abuse and endless Covid tests: Chinese artist documents the ‘absurdities and violence’ of Shanghai’s lockdown

Gao Jie has created a series of expressive drawings showing the chaos of daily life under draconian restrictions

Covid-19analysis

Angry and disillusioned: Shanghai art workers speak out about life under strict lockdown

The Chinese government's hardline approach has drawn comparisons with the Maoist era

Podcastspodcast

Photographer Edward Burtynsky on his Ukrainian heritage and our 'predator species running amok'

Plus, Winslow Homer at the Met and China's Russia problem

Sponsored byChristie's

China cracks down on sale of stolen antiquities and archives

Following a 16-year-long case, involving stolen national treasures offered at auction in 2020, experts say more resources are needed to help people avoid unwittingly selling looted items

Chinaanalysis

China's Russia problem: will more international exhibitions be cancelled due to the countries' close ties?

Suspension of loans from state-run Musée Matisse le Cateau-Cambrésis for Beijing exhibition shocks Chinese art world

A brush with... Ai Weiwei

An in-depth interview with the artist on his cultural experiences and greatest influences, from Marcel Duchamp to ancient Chinese ceramics—and why Romanticism is not for him

Sponsored byBloomberg Connects
Art marketinterview

From Taiwanese white goods entrepreneurs to the Nanking shipwreck cargo: Colin Sheaf on the meteoric growth of the Asian auction world

As the Chinese art specialist steps back at Bonhams, he reflects on 50 years in the auction world as it went from provincial to global

NFTnews

Badiucao launches NFT collection to protest against China's human rights record on eve of Beijing Winter Olympics

Collectors can write their own message about China’s regime onto the blockchain

Lootnews

German museums may have thousands of looted relics from China’s Imperial Palace, research group believes

Collaborative research by major German institutions may expose huge amounts of Chinese objects taken during Boxer Rebellion

Ye Charlotte Ming

Three new non-profit spaces challenge the dominance of real estate and the market in China's contemporary art ecosystem

The Longlati Foundation in Shanghai and the Macalline Art Center and Fen Sonic HQ in Beijing put curation at the forefront