Chinese art is hot overseas

gzlaser

STYLISH Chinese characters aren't the only cultural treasures finding their way in the West. Chinese literature and artwork are also popular overseas.

Literature

Last October, British publishing chain Penguin paid US$100,000 for the English copyright of Chinese writer Jiang Rong's best-seller \"Wolf Totem\" (Lang Tuteng). The story follows a group of young Inner Mongolian nomads and wolves in the 1960s and 1970s. The deal was the biggest for a Chinese book to date. The English version will be published in English-speaking countries in 2007.

Art

Last month, renowned action house Sotheby's in New York held its first ever auction of contemporary Chinese art. A portrait of a young man by painter Zhang Xiaogang fetched close to US$1 million. An anonymous art lover paid US$979,200 for \"Bloodline Series: Comrade No 120\" (1998), setting a record for the artist.

More than 200 paintings, sculptures, photographs and videos, took in over US$13 million in total.