With more than 1,000 auctions and a quarter of the country's turnover, The Shanghai cultural relics market will be transformed in an orderly manner in 2021

The site of the cultural relics and artworks of the 4th CIIE.

In 2021, Shanghai held a total of 1,004 cultural relics auctions, and 125218 pieces were auctioned, with a total turnover of more than 6 billion yuan, an increase of 25% year-on-year, accounting for about a quarter of the national market share. This eye-catching report card comes from the latest statistics released by the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism at the Shanghai Two Sessions.

On November 10, 2020, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government signed the "Cooperation Agreement on Jointly Promoting the Pilot Reform of comprehensive reform of social cultural relics management", and the only systematic reform pilot in the field of social cultural relics in china was launched in Shanghai. In 2021, driven by the comprehensive reform pilot, the Shanghai cultural relics market will be transformed in an orderly manner and gradually warmed up.

Among them, the sudden rise of online auctions is eye-catching. According to statistics, among the 78 cultural relics auction enterprises in the city, more than 40 have carried out online cultural relics and artwork display and auction activities. In 2021, a total of 810 pure online cultural relics auctions were held, and 35 of them had a turnover of more than one million yuan. Among them, Shanghai Jiahe held a total of 96 online auctions throughout the year, with a total turnover of 39.86 million yuan. In September 2021, an auction that obtained a cultural relics auction business license has exceeded 200 million yuan in online auction turnover.

The brand agglomeration effect of the auction industry is becoming increasingly prominent: on the one hand, Kuangshi Auction, Guangzhou Huayi International, Beijing Kaipai International, Zhongmao Shengjia and many other top domestic auction enterprises have laid out in Shanghai; on the other hand, the rapid development of local enterprises in Shanghai, such as shanghai Jiahe's annual total turnover of 1.795 billion yuan, Shanghai Hongsheng's "Gold and Silver Liuxia - China Coin Special" turnover of 175 million yuan hit a record high.

In 2021, the Shanghai International Cultural Relics and Artworks Trade entered the "Expo Time" for the first time. The fourth CIIE set up the first cultural relics and artworks exhibition area, from the United Kingdom, Spain and other 11 countries and regions including Christie's, Sotheby's, Fergusons and other 20 overseas institutions 178 works participated in the exhibition, Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Monet, Chagall and other famous Chinese and foreign artists wonderful appearance. In the end, 41 cultural relics and artworks were completed, with a turnover of 760 million yuan.

Shanghai focuses on the construction of an internationally important cultural relics and artworks trading center, and strives to enhance its global resource allocation capabilities. The "June ×N" system for the temporary entry of cultural relics in the only free trade zone in the country has been implemented in Shanghai, and the approval procedure for the extension of the temporary entry of cultural relics has been further simplified. Shanghai has become the preferred port for well-known cultural relics and art management institutions at home and abroad such as Guardian, Poly, Christie's, Sotheby's and other well-known cultural relics and artworks to handle the entry and exit of cultural relics, and a total of 5,037 cultural relics will be handled in 2021. In the whole year, more than 2,000 cultural relics and artworks entered and exited through the Shanghai International Art Bonded Service Center, with a value of 17 billion yuan, an increase of more than 180% compared with the historical peak of 6 billion yuan in 2019. Christie's (Shanghai) will hold its first Joint Shanghai-London Auction in March 2022, following its new site at One Bund.

It is reported that in 2022, Shanghai will continue to expand the high-level opening up of the field of cultural relics and artworks, accelerate the construction of Shanghai into an international cultural relics and artworks trading center, and make every effort to build a 100-billion-level art industry. Promote the Pudong legislation that promotes the upgrading of the cultural relics and artworks industry, and create a world-class cultural relics and artwork distribution center. Continue to improve the quality and scale of the cultural relics and artworks section of the Fifth CIIE, hold the first China International Cultural Relics and Artworks Trade Expo, and promote the return of more high-quality overseas cultural relics and artworks. Establish the country's first provincial-level cultural relics market credit supervision platform, and gradually build a new pattern of standardized development of the cultural relics market with government supervision, market self-discipline, and social supervision.

Author: Fan Xin

Editor: Su Zhan

*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.