THE auction of 300 Chinese cultural relics on November 30 in Shanghai was less successful than the public and the sponsor, the US-China Collectors Association had expected. Only one-third of the items were sold, for a total of 23 million yuan (US$2.7 million).

The Shanghai Guotai Auction Company admitted that an inaccurate estimation of the market for Chinese antiques and the inclusion of items of relatively low value had impaired the success of the auction. However, a source at the company who had been responsible for the auction, but was unwilling to be identified, said it was still the first ever auction in which Chinese antiques held overseas had been shipped back to the Chinese mainland for sale.

"They should have provided better-quality items and set more reasonable prices," he told the Shanghai Star. "But at least, it was a good experiment."

Experts said the prices set for the items were lower than they should have been. The source at Guotai Auction said the US association had originally set the prices while the Chinese firm had helped to adjust some of them.

Zhou Dezhao, head of the Los Angeles-based non-profit association established in 2001, said members had worried about whether unsold items would be returned to them after the auction and about whether the exchanges would be transacted in renminbi or US dollars. However, such anxieties proved unnecessary.

Xu Yongqiang, head of the lost relics management department of the Shanghai Cultural Relics Administration Bureau, noted that according to Chinese laws only those antiques that were smuggled out of the country or stolen from museums after 1949 would be confiscated if they re-appeared in the Chinese mainland market.

All antiques transactions occurring on the Chinese mainland take place in renminbi.

Lost treasures

Statistics from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization reveal that even though foreign museums have collected millions of Chinese cultural relics, the number of those owned by private collectors is 10 times greater.

Xu, the official, noted that there had been three especially large waves of loss of antique treasures in China's modern history, corresponding to the intrusion of British and French forces into Beijing in 1860; the flight of China's last Emperor Aisin-gioro Pu Yi from the Forbidden City; and the Kuomintang (KMT) escape from the mainland to Taiwan under former KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek. Those items belonging to royal families were the most precious cultural relics to have been lost, at least as far as their economic value was concerned.

Cultural relics are categorized according to their different levels of importance, but only some of them represent large economic value. In other cases the value is primarily cultural.

It's hard to reach a detailed understanding of the nature, quantity and location of those lost antiques owned by private individuals. Insiders said they could only make rough estimates about where different types of relics went to. For example, Japanese collectors usually concentrated upon calligraphy and lacquer works, Taiwanese treasured jade items and upper class French collectors especially coveted Chinese porcelain items which became symbols of social status.

Cultural homecoming

As a rule, cultural relics flowed to peaceful places during wars and to richer areas during peaceful times. With China's rapid economy growth, combined with the right granted to individuals to collect cultural relics - established by a new law promulgated in 2002 - a market for such items has begun to develop in the country.

"The increasing trade in antiques has helped to reveal the nature and scope of private collections, so the country can better estimate what it has lost," Xu said.

In addition to a specific fund provided by the government to purchase lost precious treasures, China has begun to encourage individuals, enterprises and community organizations in the country to acquire them.

Since the government budget was limited, and concentrated public collections of relics were vulnerable to natural disasters and wars, Xu thought individual collectors were playing a valuable role in recovering national treasures.

Antique shops and auctions were two major ways of conducting exchanges. According to a new regulation, stores can only sell antiques dating from the period between 1911 and 1949, while older ones can only be traded at auctions.

Yang Shaorong, a local individual collector of ancient shoes said the prices in antique shops were settled after negotiation between buyers and sellers, with reference to the artistic quality and rarity of the item in question. "I maintain contacts with many antiques shops around the country. Whenever they discover relevant new items, they call me," he said.

As Chinese Newsweek has reported, the centre of the Chinese antiques trade has shifted over past decades, from London auction houses in the 1950s to New York in the 1960s and then to Hong Kong since the 1980s.

Since Hong Kong is a free-trade port without restrictions on the import and export of cultural relics, the city has become a major centre for trade in smuggled items.

Tomb robbery and subsequent smuggling of relics remain popular in Northwest China's Shaanxi, North China's Shanxi and Central China's Henan provinces, areas rich in cultural treasures, according to Xu. Most of the items thus extracted are transported to Hong Kong. Shanghai Customs refused to comment on relic smuggling.

Because an international agreement prevents government organizations from buying artifacts which have been illegally obtained or smuggled, such items tend to end up in the hands of private collectors.

Private donations also accounted for a number of precious relics making their way back to the Chinese mainland. Many items in the Shanghai Museum were donated. The latest example of this is a porcelain bottle from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) auctioned at 41.5 million yuan (US$5 million).

"Some overseas Chinese have purchased lost relics in foreign countries and then donated them to China," Xu said.

Chinese and foreign collectors have different interests - the former tend to attach overwhelming importance to the appearance of antique objects, whereas foreigners are more likely to be interested in both the cultural and economic value of such items, even if they have some aesthetic flaws.