Chinese Art Prices Surge As Spending Power Increases

A Beijing auction house sold a landscape by Chang Ta-chien for more than £5m yesterday, the latest sign that China's supercharged economy is inflating worldwide prices for the country's art.

The 1968 work, Ten Thousand Mile Landscape, a 34.5 metre-wide image of the Yangtze river, fetched 73m million yuan, one of the highest prices paid for a Chinese painting.

The auctioneers, Beijing Zhongbang, declined to reveal the name of the buyer, but he or she is among a growing number willing to splash out millions on works that were worth less than half as much only two years ago. From Qing-dynasty pottery to contemporary installations, the values of almost every type of Chinese art are surging, along with international interest in its heritage.

Chang's work was always likely to interest buyers. He died in 1983 at the age of 84, renowned throughout the artworld for his traditional ink landscapes and innovative "splash of colour" technique.

But he is not alone in attracting attention. At a Christie's sale in Hong Kong in May, an unnamed Asian collector paid a record HK$16m (£1.1m) for a Chinese oil painting - Zhao Wuji's largest triptych, Juin-Octobre 85.

And this month, Christie's in London sold a Ming jar to an anonymous western collector for £15.7m, a record for any Asian work of art.

The boom has several causes. It is a product of an economy that has grown at more than 8% a year for two decades and also reflects a change in China as it rediscovers a passion for art.

But with prices rising and hidden works becoming available, there are fears that a free market in art might be detrimental to China's heritage.

This year the government in Beijing asked the US to restrict imports of Chinese art amid concerns that many cultural treasures were being looted for sale abroad.