Plea to reform Shanghai's auction market

Shanghai should speed up reforms of the auction market to encourage international exchanges and establish the city as a hub for artifacts and artworks.

Yu Qingrong, a member of the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said that the city should establish a platform that meets international criteria for trading artifacts and artworks.

Yu said that the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone has created a key policy environment for this.

"The government should make the best use of the FTZ by cutting investment tax credits as well as the cost of relic transactions to improve artifacts and artwork circulation," he said.

Yu proposed transforming Shanghai International Art Trade Week, which takes place every November, into an international and professional platform.

Jiang Xiaowei / SHINE

Exploring the bonded trading of cultural relics and pieces of art has played a vital role in the FTZ's systemic innovation.

He also advocated improving the artifact appraiser identification system to manage the cultural relic appraisal market.

"We should simplify the customs clearance procedures for artworks, offering certain artworks a longer display time, and form a mature 'Shanghai model' for the standardized management of artifacts and artwork markets," he said.

Yu, the founder of Shanghai Qiuguang Import & Export Co Ltd and Qiuguang Art Museum, is an avid collector and art enthusiast.

He hoped for more international art forums, cultural relic auctions, and art fairs, and encouraged all districts to establish more international cultural and art exchange platforms, such as the "Art Bund."

Additional ecological and low-carbon art spaces should be established to build regional art exchange platforms.

Since Shanghai Duoyunxuan Co hosted the first art auction in China in 1993, over 100 art-related transactions have been carried out by 2023, including at least 30 art auctions worth more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.39 billion).