This is a crazy and reasonable market

In the past 2010, it was described by many people as an "era of billions of dollars." With the emergence of a number of heavy auction items, auction transactions are constantly updated. When people recall the year later, they will never miss a single name - "Shu Taming." At the 2010 Spring Auction on Poly Day, the calligraphy of the North Song Dynasty master Huang Tingjian was sold for 436.8 million yuan, setting a record for the world's highest sales of Chinese art. In the same year, Beijing Poly Auction also became a factor in the world and became famous in the world.

"I was once asked when Pauli can shoot 100 billion a year. I didn't expect that, just one year later, we could be so close to this figure."

The digital business era: The Beijing Poly autumn auction in 2010 refreshed the record of art auctions in a single season. As the organizer and the participants in the whole process, what is the most impressive lens?

Zhao Xu: One of the scenes that most impressed me appeared in the antique auction night of 2010 Poly Autumn Auction. Nearly 30 buyers participated in bidding for a guqin named "Stones". The scene was spectacular. This guqin was once collected by the four emperors of China, Song Huizong, Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong. It is very beautiful. At that time, I helped a friend to participate in the bidding, but unfortunately he still did not get a hand. His previous psychological price was 60 million to 70 million yuan, and the final transaction price was as high as nearly 140 million yuan. But afterwards he still regretted that this piano is indeed priceless. What is gratifying is that the "Pinestone" piano has created a record for the world's instrumental auctions. This allows people to see a huge space in the Chinese antique and cherished market. People are also witnessing the rise of the domestic antique market.

The digital business era: What is the most unexpected work in autumn photography?

Zhao Xu: The most surprising auction is in the modern and contemporary special field. Zhang Daqian's work “The Girl of Heaven” has been sought after by many buyers. The woman in the painting is Zhang Daqian's "lover" - Korean geisha Chi Chunhong. This is Zhang Daqian's very cherished work, which has a very beautiful love story. The bottom price of this work is 20 million yuan, and the final transaction has exceeded 70 million yuan. The competition is fierce and the process is exciting. This is also a microcosm of the overall performance of the modern-day segment. In 2010, Baoli Qiutai night market took more than 150 pieces of modern and contemporary works, with a total turnover of more than 1.8 billion yuan, and created the world record of domestic and modern modern calligraphy and painting transactions in the least quantity.

The new buyers continue to come in, so that the auction company's life is good. The total turnover of Poly Auctions in 2010 was 9.15 billion, which I did not think of myself. In 2009, Poly's annual turnover was about 2.5 billion yuan. At that time, someone once asked me, when can Paul make 100 billion yuan a year? I did not expect that only one year later, we can be so close to this figure. At first glance, this market is very crazy and actually very stable. The auction market is a half financial market. Compared with this big market, these figures are just the ocean of the sea.

“The price of Chinese art is not high, and I think that the price of Chinese art in the future can surely capture 10 billion, or even 100 billion.”

The digital business era: As mentioned earlier, this market is crazy. If you sum up the 2010 auction market with one sentence or several keywords, how would you describe this year?

Zhao Xu: This is a crazy and reasonable market. The history of Chinese collections has been five thousand years. After ten years of catastrophe, China's first rich entrepreneurial groups have only just begun to establish a new collection system. The New York Times released a set of figures: China produces 20 billionaires every day. In Taiwan, 80 out of every 100 billionaires like to collect. In mainland China, this proportion is less than 1%. It can be said that the Chinese art market is only just starting. Chinese culture has a history of 5,000 years. Ancient princes will have a tradition of collection. In the early 1980s, many precious works of art flowed overseas, and now they continue to flow back to China. From this point on, we can see that China’s national strength is growing. None of the record-setting items of Poly Auctions in recent years have come from overseas, and almost all of them have been purchased by domestic collectors. This is what we want to see. It is also the common wish of overseas Chinese.

The digital business era: In the past, the art market was narrowly crowded, but with the constant emergence of the wealth effect, art auctions have already surpassed the circles of the industry and become the object of public concern and discussion. In your opinion, what perceptions of the public are common but wrong?

Zhao Xu: Many people are talking about the "billion-dollar era" and "the sky-price incident." I think these are the wrong readings of outsiders. Although many domestic artworks are now worth more than 100 million yuan, in this era, these words cannot explain anything. The intrinsic value of Chinese art is much higher than that of European and American art, but what is the price? In New York, a painting by Michelangelo created in 1545 was recently estimated at 2 billion yuan. However, during the same period, his Ming Dynasty painter Wu Bin's “Eighteen Maps” only shot 169 million yuan. yuan. Judging from the scope of the world, the price of Chinese art is not high. I think that the price of Chinese art in the future can surely capture 10 billion, or even 100 billion. Chinese buyers have just discovered the first pot of gold and they have discovered the charm of art. This has only just begun.

"Even the financial crisis has not really affected the auction market. Overall, the future must be optimistic."

The digital business era: There are many participants who feel this phenomenon: There are many speculative funds in the new funding, and in the financial industry's gradual integration with the art market, people have new concerns: After the intervention of capital, the possibility of sitting in the village began to appear. How do you think about this worry?

Zhao Xu: I think that attempting to sit in the village will always fail. The so-called "Zhuangzhuang" may require huge financial support. It is unfavorable in the art market and formal auction companies will not support Zuozhuang behavior. The profit of the auction company depends on the scale of the commission. The dealer is only small profit for the auction company and has no meaning.

The digital business era: What is your biggest wish for the 2011 art market? How is this market expected to develop?

Zhao Xu: I hope the market can develop steadily and healthily. As for whether the market will fluctuate, I think even if the financial crisis did not really affect the auction market, then overall it must be optimistic. For Poly, the most important thing in the future is overseas expansion. In a few days, we will again go to North America and do five exhibitions from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Toronto and Vancouver, and launch large-scale overseas art collections. After previous work, now Poly has had enough fame overseas to allow us to bring together the highest-end artworks and bring them back home.

The digital business era: After many years in the auction industry, has your understanding of art changed from the beginning of your career? What is its essence?

Zhao Xu: People who like to work on art, once fell in love with it, can't get rid of this “addiction” for a lifetime. My fate with art is natural. The change is more in the art market. Now the buyers are more professional than in the past, and the quality of the products entering the market is much larger than I had at the beginning. With the advent of the Internet and the digital age, information asymmetry is becoming less and less. Art objects that used to cover the “veil” are no longer mysterious. Art works truly speak with value.

The digital business era: Under the general expectation of inflation, many people with sufficient funds in their hands are looking for markets where assets can be appreciated. Artwork is increasingly becoming their goal. What kind of advice does this group have?

Zhao Xu: There are indeed many people who have sufficient funds on hand and have the desire to use art as an investment target. For this group, my advice is to be very cautious. Although the arts as a whole have indeed achieved a good appreciation, these people who realize the benefits are still more enthusiastic, and they enter the market because of the needs of collecting and improving their taste. From a global point of view, only a few successful art investment** can allow people to participate in investment, but this requires professional operations. For the ** established in the name of art investment, it must be clear whether there is a professional team behind it.