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小 發表於 2009-12-3 01:20 只看該作者
[2009.11.26] 經濟學人Special report - Treasures reclaimed
A special report on the art market
藝術品市場特別報導
Treasures reclaimed(要求收回)
寶物收回Nov 26th 2009
China is bringing home its works of art藝術品“回家”，中國在行動
Wolley and Wallis 
A SMALL country auction(拍賣) house is not where people would normally go to sell a rare piece of Chinese art such as the handsome 18th-century beast known as the Pelham Water Buffalo. The animal had been carved from a single lump(團,塊) of spinach(菠菜)-green jade on the orders(命令) of the grandest(最崇高的) of the Qing-dynasty emperors, Qianlong (who reigned(統治) from 1736 to 1795), and sits on a gilded(鍍金) stand bearing the four-character mark of Qianlong's reign. Lady Diana Miller had inherited the work from her father, Sackville Pelham, 5th Earl(伯爵) of Yarborough, an English aristocrat(貴族) who bought it in 1938 from a well-known London dealer. The earl paid £300 for the piece, then a princely(奢侈的) sum. To ensure its safety during the second world war, the buffalo was wrapped(包,裹) in newspaper, put into a wooden box marked “porcelain(瓷器)” and deposited(存放) in a bank vault(地窖). There it lay for the next 65 years.
一般而言，人們要出售一件罕見的中國藝術品，比如這頭名為“佩勒姆水牛”的精美的18世紀牲畜，不會去小國的拍賣行。這只動物是奉清朝最偉大的皇帝乾隆（1736年至1795年在位）的命令，用單塊菠菜綠玉石雕成的，它蹲坐在注有乾隆朝四字標記的鍍金底座上。戴安娜•米勒女士從其父——亞伯勒伯爵五世薩克維爾•佩勒姆手中，繼承了這件藝術品。這位英國貴族1938年從一位著名的倫敦商人那買到了它，為此掏了300英鎊，這在當時是一大筆款項。為確保其安然度過二戰時期，玉牛被裹上報紙，裝進一個標名“瓷器”的木盒，存放在銀行地下室裏。它在那一躺就是65年。
When Lady Diana at last opened up the box she sent the buffalo, still in its original newspaper wrapping, to Woolley & Wallis, a family auctioneer(拍賣商) in Salisbury. The firm had previously sold some family silver for her and she trusted it. Most of all she liked the young specialist, John Axford, and his plan for marketing her Chinese heirloom(傳家寶). He told her he would exhibit it at Hazlitt Gooden & Fox, a London gallery close to Christie's, during the spring season of Asian auctions in London, and also market it online to potential buyers in the Far East.
戴安娜女士最終打開了這個木盒，玉牛仍裹在原先的報紙裏，她將其送至索爾茲伯里一家家族拍賣商——伍利沃利斯拍賣行。這家公司先前曾替她賣了幾件家族銀器，博取了她的信任。最重要的是，她喜歡這位年輕的專家約翰•埃克斯福特，也中意他制訂的出售祖傳中國寶物的計畫。約翰告訴戴愛娜，倫敦亞洲春季拍賣會期間，他將會在毗鄰克利斯蒂拍賣行的倫敦哈茲利特•古登及福克斯畫廊，展出這件寶物，而且還會向遠東的潛在買家線上兜售。
A look at the visitors’ book for the Hazlitt showing proves that Mr Axford had the right instincts. Among the 100-odd(有零數的,...以上的) people who came to see the buffalo were some of the biggest names(名人) in Asian art: Nicolas Chow, Sotheby's principal Chinese specialist, who is based in Hong Kong; Richard Littleton and Giuseppe Eskenazi, both leading dealers in Asian art, with nearly a century's experience between them; and Bruno Eberli, a Swiss-born foreign-exchange(外匯) dealer who lives in New York and is one of the keenest(熱衷的;最高級) buyers of Chinese and Japanese treasures.
瞟一眼哈茲利特展覽會來訪者的名冊，證實埃克斯福特先生直覺很准。來觀看玉牛的100多人中，有一些是亞洲藝術市場的大腕：在香港工作的索斯比拍賣行主要中國專家尼古拉斯•仇（仇國仕）；理查•利特爾頓與朱塞佩•埃思肯納齊，兩人均是亞洲藝術市場的頂尖商人，[在該領域]擁有的經驗[加起來]近一個世紀；而布魯諾•埃拜爾利，是一位生於瑞士住在紐約的外匯交易商，非常熱衷於購買中國及日本的寶物。
There was standing room only at the sale in May this year. So many buyers had registered to bid(出價) by telephone that the auction house ran out of phone lines and Mr Axford had to field(接) one bidder on his personal mobile. The catalogue(目錄), which featured the buffalo on the cover, offered no estimate of the price it was expected to fetch(售得); only a coy(含糊其詞的) “refer department”, which usually means the auctioneer has no idea what a piece might fetch but hopes that it will be a lot. Bidding would open at £150,000. Mr Axford thought it might reach £500,000.
今年5月的拍賣會，[人多得]只能站著。通過電話參與競標的註冊者多得打爆了拍賣行的電話線，埃克斯福特先生不得不用他的私人移動電話指定一個投標人。目錄封面凸顯了這尊玉牛，卻並未提供其預計售出的估價；僅標有一行含糊其辭的“參考範圍”，這通常意味著拍賣商拿不准要價但又希望售價不菲。標底將以15萬英鎊開出。埃克斯福特先生認為其能達到50萬英鎊。
In the event(結果,到頭來 ), Daniel Eskenazi, who had travelled down on behalf of(代表) his father, the London dealer, saw off(鋸下) a Hong Kong telephone bidder with his offer of £3.4m. The Eskenazis' client was Mr Eberli, who still holds the record for the price paid at auction for an Asian work of art: just over £15.6m for a rare 14th-century blue-and-white porcelain jar((寬口的)瓶) bought at Christie's in London four years earlier.
結果，丹尼爾•埃思肯納齊代表其父——一位倫敦商人來了，以340萬英鎊的出價送別了一位元香港的電話競標者。埃思肯納齊的客戶是埃拜爾利先生，此人仍保持著亞洲藝術品拍賣價紀錄：四年前，他在克利斯蒂拍賣行花了1560萬英鎊多一點，購買了一件罕見的14世紀青花瓷罐。
The big surprise that May day(國際勞動節) was not so much that a provincial(地方性的) British auction house had beaten the previous record for a sale outside London by a huge margin(利潤), but that the bidders from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China-who are now the principal buyers of Chinese treasures-had been outdone(勝過) by a Westerner. It may not happen again.
五一節的一大意外，與其說是一家英國地方拍賣行以巨大利潤打破了此前倫敦市外的銷售記錄，倒不如說是一個西方人力壓來自香港、臺灣及中國大陸的投標人——他們現在是中國寶物的主要買家——拔得頭籌。這可能曇花一現。
Reversing the flow回流
Collecting Chinese fine art and ceramics(陶瓷) was all the rage(風靡一時的事物) in the West in the second half of the 19th and the early 20th century. Heavy buying by treasure-hunters, as well as looting(掠奪) of imperial(帝國的) works by the Germans, Dutch, French and British, brought huge quantities of Chinese fine art into Western collections. But in the past decade the number of European and American buyers has dwindled(漸漸減少).
中國美術品及陶瓷收藏，19世紀下半葉至20世紀初在西方風靡一時。尋寶者大量購買，德國、荷蘭、法國及英國又劫掠皇室藝術品，為西方人的收藏帶來數目龐大的中國藝術品。但過去十年，歐美買家數量日漸減少。
Mr Eberli is one of a handful(少數) still active at the very top of the market, along with Edward Johnson III, whose father founded Fidelity(忠誠) Investments(投資), and the two elderly Zuellig brothers (one of whom died recently), whose Meiyintang collection in Switzerland is probably the finest Chinese collection in private hands. “When the right piece comes along(出現), they are still ready to fight the fight,” says Mr Chow. But most Westerners with an interest in Chinese art and ceramics today tend to be sellers rather than buyers.
仍活躍在這一市場最高端的人為數不多，埃爾拜利先生是其中之一，此外還有愛德華•詹森三世，其父創建了富達投資公司，而裕利老哥倆（其中一位最近過世了）在瑞士的玫茵堂藏品，也許是私人手中最棒的中國[藝術品]收藏。“中意的藝術品一現身，他們依然準備為之一搏，”仇（國仕）先生說。不過現在對中國美術品與陶瓷感興趣的西方人，大多是賣家而非買家。
From 1949, when the Communist Party defeated the Nationalists, and especially during the Cultural Revolution, from 1966, owning, inheriting or exchanging pre-communist works of art was banned in China. Thanks to shifts in policy that started under Deng Xiaoping and continued after him, the Chinese are now catching up in a big way(大規模地), following on from the Japanese buyers who dominated the market in the 1970s and the Taiwanese and Hong Kong collectors who started buying seriously in the 1990s.
從共產黨打敗國民黨的1949年起，尤其是1966年開始的文革期間，在中國，擁有、繼承與交換前共產主義時期的藝術品，是被禁止的。20世紀70年代，日本買家主導了這一市場，而港臺藏家在20世紀90年代開始認真購買，隨後，中國人現在正大踏步迎頭趕上，這多虧了鄧小平領導下制訂並延續的政策轉變。
The mainland Chinese are beginning to dominate the salerooms. Prevented for so long from celebrating the achievements of their forebears(祖先), they have a thirst for their own history, and especially for anything that connects modern China with the glories of its imperial past. The newly wealthy-such as Xu Qiming, China's biggest exporter of eels(鰻魚) from the port city of Ningbo; Lu Hanzhen, an industrialist from Zhejiang province(省) who became rich by selling motorcycles and nylon fabric for car tyres; or indeed any businessman or civil servant who benefited from the recent flurry(陣風) of privatisations(私有化)-can afford(買得起) to pay, and pay they will.
現在，中國大陸買家開始成為拍賣場主角。長期以來，他們被禁止賞玩其祖先的藝術成就，[因此]渴望瞭解自身歷史，尤其渴望擁有與帝國昔日輝煌相關的任何東西。新富——如徐其明，來自港口城市寧波的中國最大的鰻魚出口商；陸漢振，來自浙江的實業家，靠賣摩托車與汽車輪胎的簾子布發家致富；乃至任何從近期私有化浪潮中獲益的商人與公務員——他們買得起了，而且想怎麼花就怎麼花。
Nor are these buyers to be found only in the old political and commercial strongholds(據點) of Beijing and Shanghai. There are probably seven Chinese cities with populations of more than 5m, and demand for fine art is as strong in Guangdong, adjacent(毗連的) to Hong Kong, as it is in Sichuan in the west or in more far-flung(遙遠的) areas. “It's what I call 'natural repatriation(遣送回國)',” says Patti Wong, who as chairman of Sotheby's Asia has been watching the Chinese buying wave grow for a decade, "and it is happening everywhere."
這些買家並非只有在老牌政治商業中心北京與上海才能找到。中國大概有七座人口過500萬的城市，而毗鄰香港的廣東與西部的四川或更偏遠的地區，對中國美術品的需求同樣強烈。“這就是我所說的‘自然索回’，”索斯比拍賣行亞洲區主席帕蒂•黃（黃林詩韻）說，十年來她一直在觀察中國購買潮的興起，“這一幕正四處上演。”
Having made their money quickly, Chinese buyers are in a hurry to build their collections fast and are willing to pay a premium(加價) to achieve that. “Arriving at the buffet party a little too late,” says Mr Chow, "they are more aggressive than Europeans or Americans." Even though economic growth in China this year may be only 8%, after 9% last year, it is still far higher than in most of the rest of the world. China may be one of the few places where the number of dollar billionaires has actually increased in the past year, from 101 to 130, according to the recently published Hurun Rich List.
由於迅速致富，中國買家急於快速積累自己的藏品，為此甘願多掏點錢。“由於參加自助宴會遲到已久，”仇（國仕）先生說，“他們比歐美買家更冒進。”雖然中國經濟增長繼去年的9％之後，今年可能只有8％，但仍遠高於世界其他地方。根據最近發佈的胡潤富豪排行榜，過去一年，中國億萬美元富翁數從101增至130，可能是少數幾個此類人數確切增加的地方之一。
Deep pockets腰纏萬貫
Dealers and auctioneers familiar with the Chinese market estimate that there are around 150 collectors in Hong Kong and Taiwan who spend at least $1m a year each on Chinese works of art, and that their number is relatively stable. The mainland has another 150 or so buyers in that category(種類), and the numbers there are growing rapidly. More Chinese treasures are now sold at auction in Hong Kong than in New York, London and Paris. Whereas back in 2004 Sotheby's did $10m-worth of business with 70 clients from the mainland in its spring and autumn sales in Hong Kong, the figure for the same sales this year is seven times higher and its list of mainland Chinese buyers has grown to 195. Many more bid through established(已建立的) dealers in Hong Kong. “Mainland China has clearly become our main land,” says Kevin Ching, chief executive of Sotheby's Asia.
熟悉中國藝術品市場的商人與拍賣商估計，港臺約有150名收藏家，每人每年在中國藝術品上花費至少一百萬美元，且數量相對穩定。中國大陸另有約150名同類藏家，數量則在迅速增加。現在，越來越多的中國寶物在香港而非紐約、倫敦和巴黎售出。而回顧2004年，索斯比拍賣行在其春秋季拍賣會上與70名中國大陸顧客做成了1000萬美元的生意，今年同樣的銷售資料則翻了7倍，其名單上的中國大陸買家數上升至195。還有許多人通過香港經銷商參與競標。“中國大陸顯然已成為我們的主陣地，”索斯比拍賣行亞洲區總裁凱文•程（程壽康）說。
In 1886 Paul Durand-Ruel, a Paris dealer, packed his bags with 300 Impressionist(印象派作家) paintings-including piles(堆) of Renoirs, Pissarros and Sisleys-to take to America. He was closely followed by a Briton(英國人), Joseph (later Lord(勳爵)) Duveen, who could see, like Durand-Ruel, that “Europe had the art and America had the money.”
1886年巴黎商人保羅•杜蘭德-魯埃爾，用袋子裝了300多幅印象派畫作——包括成堆的雷諾阿、畢沙羅及西斯萊等大家的作品——帶到美國。英國人約瑟夫•杜威恩（後來成了勳爵）緊隨其後，他與杜蘭德-魯埃爾一樣，明白“英國有藝術，而美國有錢。”
Christies克利斯蒂拍賣行
 The new home market新的國內市場
Just as European Old Master and Impressionist paintings then began to move inexorably(無情地) westwards across the Atlantic, now Chinese fine art and ceramics from America, Britain, France and the Netherlands are moving eastwards back to China. Not since the heyday(全盛期) of Duveen's and Durand-Ruel's exports to America has there been such vigorous(精力充沛的) redirecting of cultural artefacts(人工製品) from one part of the world to another as European and American collections are broken up and sold off to the newly wealthy Chinese. The traffic is almost all one way.
正如歐洲早期繪畫大師與印象派畫作，當年開始勢不可擋地跨過大西洋向西流動，現在，中國的美術品與陶瓷正從美國、英國、法國及荷蘭向東流回中國。隨著歐美藏品流散並被拋售給中國新富，文化藝術品如此活躍地從世界一個地區向另一個地區轉移，這還是杜威恩與杜蘭德-魯埃爾將藝術品出口至美國以來的首次。這種交易流動幾乎完全是單向的。
Mainland Chinese buyers made a dramatic first entrance in April 1999 when two previously unknown collectors, both entrepreneurs(企業家) in their mid-30s from Chaozhou in Guangdong province, began to buy fine art and ceramics at auction, reviving the market after the Asian financial crisis two years earlier. They were guided by William Chak, a Hong Kong dealer who has since become a well-known television personality(名人) and is one of the leading figures(人物) in the Asian art market in Hong Kong. Others followed.
中國大陸買家1999年4月初次亮相，令人印象深刻。當時，兩位先前默默無聞的藏家（他們是來自廣東潮州、35歲左右的企業家）開始去拍賣行購買中國美術品與陶瓷，在亞洲金融危機兩年後喚醒了藝術品市場。指導他們的是威廉•翟，一位元業已成為電視名人的港商，他也是香港亞洲藝術品市場的領軍人物之一。其他人接踵而至。
The Chinese buy for themselves, but they also like to present gifts to valued customers or even to the government, which sees repatriating national treasures as an important issue. The authorities have been quietly tightening up on the re-export of repatriated artworks. Chinese buyers used to be able to re-export their treasures for up to two years after they had bought them. That period of grace has now been reduced to six months.
中國人為自己購買藏品，但他們也樂於饋贈給有價值的客戶甚至捐給政府，後者將索回國寶視為重大問題。官方已悄悄加強了回流藝術品再出口[管制]。中國買家購入寶物後，以前要長達兩年才能再出口。現在，這一期限已減至6個月。
The rat and the rabbit鼠首與兔首
The sensitivity of the subject was shown up in February this year when the collection built up by the late(已故的) Yves St Laurent, a French fashion designer, and his partner Pierre Berge was put up for sale. The auction included bronze heads of a rat and a rabbit, two pieces that had been looted from the imperial palace of Yuanmingyuan by French and British soldiers in the opium wars in 1860. The heads, part of a series of 12 figures(塑像) which dominated a zodiac fountain in the palace garden, had not even been designed by a Chinese artist but by a Jesuit(耶穌會信徒) priest(神父) from Venice who lived in the imperial capital. All the same, their provenance(出處) and history made their sale controversial.
今年2月，敏感性話題爆出。已故法國時裝設計師伊夫•聖洛朗與其合夥人皮埃爾•伯奇逐步積累的藏品出售。拍賣品包括銅制鼠首與兔首，這兩件寶物是英法聯軍1860年鴉片戰爭時從皇家園林圓明園掠去的。銅首，是這座皇家花園十二生肖噴泉雕像的主體部分，其設計者甚至不是中國藝術家，而是一位住在京城來自威尼斯的耶穌會神父。儘管如此，其歷史淵源讓這次拍賣充滿爭議。
The government let it be known that it did not approve(贊許) of a public sale of the precious bronze heads in the West and did not want its citizens to take part. Even so, both the winning bidder and several underbidders turned out to be Chinese. One, a London-based businessman, had been planning to present the bronzes to the Chinese government as a gift. The buyer, Cai Mingchao, who secured(獲得) the two pieces for EURO 31m ($46m), turned out to be an adviser to a Chinese foundation which seeks to retrieve(收回) plundered(掠奪) treasures. He announced very publicly soon afterwards that he would not pay up. The heads were quietly returned to Mr Berge. The government has since announced that it wants to catalogue all the pieces looted from Yuanmingyuan, which some believe is the first step in a campaign to reclaim them.
中國政府聲明，不贊同在西方公開拍賣這兩尊珍貴的銅首，也不希望本國公民參與。即便如此，兩位中標者與幾位流標者證實了是中國人。其中一位公司設在倫敦的商人，一直在計畫將這兩尊銅首作為禮物獻給中國政府。以3100萬歐元（4600萬美元）競得兩尊銅首的買主蔡銘超，結果是一家旨在索回被掠珍寶的中國基金會顧問。後來，他很快公開宣稱，他不會為此付一分錢。銅首悄悄回到了伯奇先生手中。自此，中國政府宣稱將對所有圓明園被掠珍寶登記造冊，某些人認為此舉是收回這些寶物活動的第一步。
Mainland Chinese taste is influenced more by history and tradition than by aesthetics(美學). For cultural reasons buyers tend to shun(迴避) anything associated with the dead, so they keep away from tomb pottery(陶器) and from the Tang horses that used to be rare and expensive but have flooded Western markets over the past 20 years. The Chinese are less interested in the early Song period that has been so alluring(誘人的) to Western collectors, instead favouring highly decorative blue-and-white Ming porcelain(瓷器). Two lots of Ming ware in a recent sale at Doyle, a small New York auctioneer, were wildly bid up, one of them to over 180 times its high estimate.
中國大陸人的嗜好，受歷史與傳統影響多於審美。買家基於文化理由，往往對任何與死亡沾邊的東西避之不及，因此他們不太問津墓地出土的陶器與唐三彩馬，這些馬曾極為稀有昂貴，但過去20年氾濫西方市場。中國人也對西方收藏家為之神魂顛倒的的宋初寶物興趣乏乏，反而青睞極富裝飾性的明青花瓷器。一家紐約小拍賣商道爾拍賣行近期拍賣了兩件明代瓷器，競標者瘋狂哄抬價格，其中一件賣價超過其高估價的180倍。
Mainland Chinese also appreciate seals(印章), lacquerware(漆器), antique rhinoceros(犀牛) horn, archaic(古代的) bronzes, carved wooden furniture and jade, especially the white sort from Turkestan, carved by the craftsmen(工匠) of Khotan for the Qing emperors. The imperial association is of crucial importance, especially any link with Qianlong and some of the other emperors of the Qing dynasty.
中國大陸人還欣賞印章、漆器、古犀牛角、古青銅器、雕花木制傢俱及玉器——尤其是和田工匠為清朝皇帝雕刻的來自土耳其斯坦的白玉。皇室淵源至關重要，特別是跟乾隆與其他清朝皇帝有關的。
In Sotheby's sales of Chinese ceramics and fine art in Hong Kong last month 19 of the top 20 lots(貨品) were bought by Asian collectors, mostly private buyers. American collectors were nowhere to be seen. Only one lot, an intricately(複雜地) carved red lacquer bowl(碗), was secured by a European collector, an Austrian, after furious bidding that took it up to HK$2.7m ($344,000), seven times the top estimate. A hoard(貯藏物) of imperial ware, put together by a London dealer, Hugh Moss, and romantically named the Water, Pine(松樹) and Stone Retreat(隱退處) Collection, proved a particular draw, with yellow jade and a blue-and-white moonflask all making record prices.
上個月在香港索斯比拍賣行拍賣的中國美術品與陶瓷，售價排名前20的寶物中，有19件被亞洲收藏家買走，主要是私人買家。美國收藏家蹤影全無。只有一件寶物，一個精雕細刻的朱紅漆碗，被一位來自奧地利的歐洲藏家競得，競標過程十分火爆，中標價抬升至270萬港幣（34.4萬美元），是最高估價的7倍。倫敦商人休•莫斯拼湊了一套皇室官窯組件，並浪漫地命名為“水松石退隱藏品集”，結果別出心裁，黃玉及青花瓷抱月瓶均創下拍賣價紀錄。
But the biggest battle was over a Qianlong-period throne(御座) made of precious zitan wood and carved with dragons, which was estimated to fetch(售得) HK$20m-30m. After heart-stoppingly tense bidding it was bought by a Shanghai businessman, Liu Yiqian, who owns the Council(會議) Auction House in Beijing. He paid just under HK$86m, a world record for a piece of Chinese furniture.
但是，最大的爭奪戰，圍繞著珍稀紫檀雕夔龍紋飾乾隆禦椅展開，該寶物估價為2000萬至3000萬港幣。拍賣過程緊張得令人窒息，最後，一位擁有北京匡時拍賣行的上海商人劉益謙中標。他付了近8600萬港幣，創下中國傢俱[拍賣價]世界紀錄。
Dealers, dealers everywhere商人，遍地是商人
China's appetite for its own works of art, together with a national flair(天資) for commercial speculation(投機買賣), has helped expand the art market all over the country. On the mainland, auction houses were banned until 1992. Ms McAndrew of Arts Economics, who made a particular study of the art business in China last year, estimates that the country now has 50,000 art dealers and more than 2,000 auction houses. The biggest of these are Poly International, a subsidiary(子公司) of the Chinese army, and China Guardian Auctions, founded by Yannan Wang, the daughter of a former Chinese leader, Zhao Ziyang, who died under house arrest(軟禁) about five years ago.
中國對自身藝術品的胃口，連同國民對商業投資的天賦，助長了全國各地的藝術品市場。在中國大陸，1992年前禁止開設拍賣行。《藝術財經》雜誌的麥克•安德魯女士，去年對中國的藝術品交易作了個特別研究，她估計該國現有5萬名藝術商人，及超過2000家拍賣行。其中最大的是保利國際拍賣有限公司（中國軍隊的一家子公司）與中國嘉德拍賣行（創辦人是中國前領導人趙/紫/陽的女兒王/雁/南，趙被捕後遭軟禁，大約五年前去世）
Foreigners are still forbidden to own auction houses in China, but the Chinese are eager to learn from them. Since 2005 Christie's, the region's leading auctioneer, has had a licensing agreement with Forever International Auction Company in Beijing, which uses the British name and benefits from increased transparency(透明度) and consumer protection, as well as international standards in training and accounting. Neither of the Western auction giants is yet a household name in the country. Art-market observers speculate(推測) that the Chinese might one day acquire a leading Western auctioneer, but that could be some way off.
在中國，外國人仍不許擁有拍賣行，但中國人急於向其學習。自2005年以來，該領域頂尖拍賣商克利斯蒂拍賣行，已同北京永樂國際拍賣公司達成了一項授權協議，該公司使用英國名稱，受益於日益增長的透明度及消費者保護[體制]，培訓及財會方面也採取了國際標準。兩大西方拍賣巨頭（克利斯蒂與索斯比）的大名尚未在中國家喻戶曉。藝術市場觀察家猜測，中國人有一天會收購一家主要的西方拍賣商，不過這還有一段路要走。
Still, plenty of other things are happening. Last June, for example, 50 fine-art dealers, a quarter of them from the West, exhibited at the first serious antiques(古玩) fair(商品展覽會) in China, in Taiyuan in Shanxi province. It adopted many of the rules of other international fairs, with a vetting(調查) committee made up of Western and Chinese experts with the power to order the removal of items believed to be misattributed or fake. A similar, earlier experiment in Hong Kong had descended into chaos when dealers refused to remove fakes from their stands, but in Taiyuan the vetters were given a free hand. And the curious crowds queued(排隊) to get in, some for hours.
儘管如此，還有一大堆其他事正在發生。例如，去年6月，50名藝術品商人，其中有四分之一來自西方，在中國山西太原，首次隆重參展“古玩藝術品博覽會”。它採用了很多別的國際博覽會規則，設立了一個由西方和中國專家組成的評審委員會，該委員會有權命令其認為是分類錯誤或贗品的展品撤除。香港曾進行過一次小規模初期試驗，但陷入混亂，商人拒絕從其展位撤除贗品，不過在太原，評審委員會委員們可以放手去幹。好奇的人群排成長隊進入，有些人逗留了數小時。
China's new interest in bringing home its works of art has caused fears as well as satisfaction. Many are concerned by the increase in the number of fakes on the market, the best of which are made in Japan as well as China. Rising prices fuel the trade in fakes and also lead to more grave-robbing. In addition, China has become increasingly vocal about restricting the trade in its treasures. After nearly five years of negotiation the Bush administration in its final days at last agreed to prohibit(禁止) the import of a wide range of antiquities into America. The agreement was not as strong as China would have liked, and in recent weeks its government has said that it will tighten up on the movement of cultural relics(遺物) out of the country. Its plan is to ban the export of anything made before 1911, the end of the Qing dynasty. No matter that China is now a member of the World Trade Organisation(組織), it still seems to be uncomfortable with free trade-except when it suits it.
中國對索回其藝術品產生了新興趣，這令人欣慰，也引發了憂慮。許多人擔心市場上的贗品數增加，其中許多極品在日本與中國製造。高漲的價格也令贗品交易火上澆油，還引起更多盜墓行徑。另外，中國對於禁止其寶物交易的呼聲日益高漲。歷時近5年的談判後，布希政府在其最後任期內終於同意禁止大範圍的文物進口至美國。協議並未像中國一廂情願的那樣強硬，而最近數周，中國政府稱其將加強[限制]文物流出本國。其計畫將禁止任何1911年（清朝終結的那一年）前製造的東西出口。不論中國現已成為世界貿易組織的一員，它依然好像對自由貿易感到不安——除了利益相符之時。
[ 本帖最後由 qwers00033269 於 2009-12-3 01:28 編輯 ]
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