XiLing’s Goal: Renaissance of Traditional Culture and Integration with the International Market

Date: 2007-7-03  Source: HK Wenhui Daily  News  By: Mao Jianxin

Since its establishment in 2005, XiLing Auction Company has developed into a force that cannot be neglected in the art market, especially in south China. Manager of the company Lu Jingqing said, “My dream is to inherit and develop traditional Chinese culture, to make Hangzhou center of the art market in south China. In the future, the integration with the international market will make Chinese works of art much more valuable.”

Starting his collection career from 1979, Mr. Lu has over 30 years’ experiences in the art market, which endowed him with good social connections and original management ideas. Despite offers from several famous auction houses in Beijing and Shanghai, he finally chose XiLingYinShe, the number one academic society of seal arts in China.

XiLingYinShe, as a century-old society, is currently the most influential academic society in seal arts in China. Famous artists like Wu Changshuo, Ma Heng, Zhang Zongxiang, Sha Menghai, Zhao Puchu, and Qi Gong used to serve as president of this society. As far as the collections are concerned, the number will be over 10,000 pieces. As Mr. Lu said, he has a special feeling to XiLingYinShe.

With this special feeling, he and XiLing Auction Company achieved great success. For example, in 2005, the first auction of the company, with over 1200 items in 5 special auctions, reached a total sales volume of RMB 200 million. And the auctions at the end of 2006 also surprised both native and foreign collectors. An essential reason for XiLing Auction’s great success is that the company adheres to its own principle, i.e. authenticity and honesty first. Now XiLing Auction has become another leading force in the auction industry, especially in south China.

In Mr. Lu’s opinion, XiLing Auction will have its own position in the international art market. Compared with an annual sales volume of over 200 billion US dollars in the international market, Chinese market with only RMB 20 billion still has a long way to go. Integration with the international market is the goal of XiLing Auction Company. The key for such integration is talents. This is what Mr. Lu learned from his visits of many international auction houses in the past two years.

Mr. Lu thinks that the period between 1993 and 2005 belongs to the first phase of Chinese art auctions. Now the Chinese art market has entered the second phase of self-adjustment. Traditional culture starts showing its own charisma in modern society. For instance, the price of ancient paintings and calligraphies is much higher than before, while some contemporary and modern works become devaluated.

Today’s Chinese art market focuses on quality of the artwork. Mr. Lu believes that with the decrease of auction items, the quality and service will improve. He added, “Our efforts are not only for selling the artwork, but also for spreading traditional Chinese culture. For every auction, we will spend a large sum of money in making delicate catalogues. In this way, we can talk with bidders in another way.”

Competitive items reflect people’s progress in aesthetics. Mr. Lu pointed out, “The Cultural Revolution caused a fault in traditional Chinese culture. Fortunately, there are signs of inheriting and developing of our traditional culture in current art market.” And XiLing Auction will continue to lead the art market and safeguard traditional culture, Mr. Lu finally said with confidence.