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"Beijing: the world's largest marketplace for art? March 11, 2013 By Sebastien Goulard | edit Vases on sale in a department store in Shanghai Vases on sale in a department store in Shanghai China has become the largest art market in the world. This could have important consequences for Chinese cities. The new urban upper class has rediscovered its heritage and has been exploring new artistic trends. Thanks to China's new passion for art, fresh talents have emerged and have been widely recognized. Chinese art lovers are flocking to the main international art market centres, where auction houses cater to the new clientele, offering Chinese language services. Since 2010, China has progressively come to dominate the art market. In 2011, China represented 41.4% of global fine art auction sales revenue, while the USA and the UK lagged far behind, with 23.6% and 19.4%, respectively1. Does this mean that Chinese cities have caught up with - and surpassed - New York and London as the leading auction marketplaces? If we take a closer look at China's art market, we notice, first of all, that this market is concentrated within a few cities. Beijing and Hong Kong represent the lion's share of the market, although Shanghai and some other provincial capitals, such as Hangzhou, are making progress. Nevertheless, Hong Kong is still the main artistic hub. In China, Hong Kong has played a similar role to Monaco vis-à-vis the French market. Because foreign auction houses were not allowed to operate in France until 2000, during the 60's American Sotheby's set up in Monaco, where French customers could easily buy pieces of fine art. Sotheby's and Christie's, the two main rivals, began looking to Asia in the 70's and 80's, opening offices in Hong Kong in 1973 and 1986 respectively. There, these companies could operate in a very business-friendly environment thanks to a reliable legal framework, the absence of taxes and the role of Hong Kong as Asia's main hub. When China s

"Yesterday marked the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year 2013, the Year of the Snake. One of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, the snake signifies cleverness and tenacity and is associated with the element of fire. In the larger Chinese astrological cycle, this year is also associated with the element of water, which makes 2013 the Year of the Water Snake. The combination of the water and fire elements may signify turmoil in the months ahead. But people around the world ushered in the new year with displays of fireworks, family get-togethers, temple visits, and street festivals. Collected here are images from several countries where revelers have been welcoming the arrival of the Water Snake. [29 photos]"

From: East Asian Science, Technology and Society: an International Journal Volume 6, Number 4, 2013 pp. 569-571 | In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content: While the conventional study of modern Chinese history places a big signpost at the divide of 1949, when the Nationalist regime fled to Taiwan and the Communist regime took over the mainland, Jacob Eyferth sets his papermaking story during the latter eight decades of the twentieth century, leading into contemporary China with barely a pause at midcentury. This sort of chronological breakthrough sheds new light on the transition from the traditional division of labor to the maximizing of profits and production of the Maoist years. Despite all the efforts of socialist ideology, the country’s rural-urban gap widened and intensified throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Chinese state capitalists, as Eyferth shows us, were more Chinese than Marxian, determined to increase national production so as to surpass the United Kingdom and the United States within a decade of liberation. As to the historical actors in Jiajiang, Sichuan, where this study is set, Eyferth presents them as a diverse group—or group of groups—whose lives embody the development of one kind of papermaking; he assesses their skills by considering a broad field of relations. Such an approach broadens our view of the sociotechnical network beyond Bruno Latour’s actor network theory (ANT) and confirms that interdisciplinary science and technology studies elicit remarkable insights from historical materials."

Vidéo New York TImes - Nouvel an chinois 2013

""Je l'avoue : d'habitude, je ne vais pas au défilé parisien du nouvel an chinois." Danielle Elisseeff s'excuse en souriant poliment de sa curieuse inexpérience. "C'est peut-être un réflexe. Mais pour moi, la Chine, ce n'est pas la Chine à Paris." Chercheuse émérite à l'EHESS sur la Chine moderne et contemporaine et professeure à l'école du Louvre, Danielle Elisseeff aime depuis toujours les pays d'Orient. Cheveux blonds clair bien accrochés sur la nuque, cette dame menue et énergique est une experte du patrimoine chinois. Pour la première fois, dimanche 17 février, elle assistera au défilé du 13e arrondissement de Paris, sur invitation de la mairie. A 75 ans, elle a eu l'occasion d'observer quelques défilés occidentaux. Sur les Champs-Elysées, il y a quelques années, et à Montréal : "C'est très pépère, par rapport à la Chine. Même si la communauté chinoise est très importante, ce n'est pas cette masse humaine qu'on retrouve là-bas." Plus que le défilé, le cœur de la fête est, pour elle, la foule qui descend dans les rues pour "être ensemble. C'est un principe très taoïste. Dans une foule chinoise en fête, on a ce sentiment de ne former qu'un seul corps. Je peux me tromper, mais pour moi, la fête en Chine, c'est ça. On est tous ensemble et on se laisse emporter. On laisse monter en nous le flux de la vie. On boit de l'alcool, on mange, on hurle, on danse...""

"Des milliers de Parisiens se sont massés dimanche 10 février sur le parvis de l'Hôtel de ville pour admirer les cortèges du Nouvel an chinois"

"Women selling local delicacies March 8, 2013 By Miguel Elosua | edit This photo was taken in Jinli ancient street in Chengdu (Sichuan), in 2010. The street was renovated in 2004 and has become since one of the city's most popular spots for both tourists and locals. Located next to the Wuhou Memorial Temple, the pedestrian street abounds with stores selling folk handicrafts, teahouses (even one Starbucks), and stalls with an astonishing variety of local snacks. In this one, cold cakes (混糖凉糕) and bamboo rolls of beef (竹叶牛肉) were made on the spot for 7 and 10 yuan the piece, respectively. This pattern of urban development has been replicated in almost every provincial capital in the last decade with much success. Pedestrians stroll against a backdrop of picturesque façades, getting a taste of the old rural life left behind."