John Garnaut, Beijing
November 20, 2007
LIANG Xiaobin is most famous for his poem *China, I've lost my key*. It was
about how much fun it was to "run wildly" and "cheer" during the Cultural
Revolution and how little sense it all made looking back.
Last month, Liang auctioned the poem's original manuscript for 80,000 yuan
($A12,000). If the Cultural Revolution was difficult to understand, he says,
then today's Chinese art market is insane. "People don't know anything about
the value of art," he says. "They don't even talk about it, or know what is
good or bad."
And yet China's new rich are snapping up paintings, sculptures and, most
recently, poetry manuscripts in an investment frenzy. Earlier this month a
Chinese buyer forked out a record 80 million yuan for a Ming Dynasty
painting called *The Red Cliff Handscroll*, by painter Qiu Ying.
Liang, voted China's best poet by China Central Television in 2004, sold a
second poem for 70,000 yuan.
Ye Kuangzheng, a young poet and critic, sold early scribblings for one of
his poems for 110,000 yuan. "I didn't know these things were worth any
money," he says, holding up a fistful of drafts he plans to put on the
market soon.
By the end of China's first major poetry auction, at Beijing's Kerry Centre,
those five and six-figure price tags looked like bargains. Sichuan poet Li
Yawei sold the manuscript for his poem *The Chinese Department* for
1.1million yuan.
Zhu Wei, a well-known painter and sculptor, says he is so disgusted that he
has gone on strike. "I worked too hard for too many years, I don't want to
join the chaos right now," he says.
The decision is not just a statement of principle. Zhu doesn't want serious
collectors to associate his name with some of the "rubbish" being sold.
As with many of China's frothing asset markets, the art bubble is attracting
protests of foul play. A Hong Kong buyer, who did not want to be named, says
her well-known gallery refuses to buy in the current environment because
traders are routinely buying their own works at inflated prices to give an
impression of hot demand.
Liang says he is still waiting to be paid. He won't be surprised if the
money doesn't come, nor will he be too worried; poets aren't accustomed to
receiving money, he says.
With *MAYA LI*
Thanks to Ron Silliman's blog for the link to this article.
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/
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