New generation is trading up to better things

Updated: 2016-08-12 07:56

By Zhao Xu(China Daily Europe)

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"They had their never-to-be-repeated opportunities, while we have our vision," says Wang Ge, comparing the older generation of dealers with the new kids on the block, such as her.

Wang opened an antiques store in Beijing this year, having gained a master's degree in the study of artifacts at Durham University in the United Kingdom. Between school and her store, the 29-year-old interned at British auction houses and dealers.

She says a major difference exists been Chinese dealers and their European counterparts. "It's not unusual for a dealer in Europe to adopt a wide-ranging approach to his or her business, trading in everything from antique porcelain to furniture," she explains. "In China, we tend to be more concentrated, focusing on one category, or two at most."

She says the phenomenon is partly due to the fact that, in China, there is simply a much larger quantity of antiques to trade, which in turn demands finer divisions.

"But it also has something to do with the making of an antiques dealer, a different process in China and the West. In Europe, children grow up with history, both in and outside of the museum. The experience is absorbing and embracing. This tradition has cultivated in some a keen interest in antiques collecting, an interest that's more aesthetic and driven by passion.

"On the other hand, to become an antique dealer in China sounds more like a strictly professional choice, one made sometimes under the influence of senior family members who had been in the business. Sometimes, the influence is more restricting than liberating."

New generation is trading up to better things

Although she concedes that her father played a role in her career choice, Wang believes that, in her case, the influence was felt in a more subtle and profound way.

"My father was not an antiques dealer, neither was he rich, but he did open the door for me," she says, recalling being taken as a child to the bustling weekly open-air antique market in Hefei, her home city in Anhui province.

There, as a girl, she encountered many low-level dealers - men and women referred to then as groundcombers.

"They combed the countryside, knocking door to door, offering money for whatever little antique pieces people had - a silver hairpin, a jade pendant or a century-old copper pot, for example," Wang explains. "Some had even dealt with, or were linked with, tomb raiders."

She says that while some groundcombers have since climbed the ladder to become her neighbors at a newly built, well-equipped antiques market in Beijing, most of these humble traders from her father's day simply faded away as the items they sought became increasingly hard to find.

"Those who have stayed are those who have consciously lifted themselves up to become dealers, often with a store, who other groundcombers regularly visit to trade their stuff. They must have also built up the expertise that allowed them to hold on to rarer and more precious things until prices rocketed.

"The older generation lived during the best days of antiques collecting in modern China, when real antiques were sold in open markets and stores at unbelievably low prices. The easy access they enjoyed means that some of them have seen a lot and have accumulated a deep knowledge of the field," she adds. "But I believe most of them, those who failed to trade up, hit a glass ceiling a long time ago. Operating at a relatively low level stopped them from seeing some really good stuff, as well as the business potential hidden out there."

For Wang, the current market conditions have not been particularly painful. She returned to China in mid-2011, when there were "signs of an impending downward spiral", she says, but things didn't grind to a halt until the second half of last year. "I opened my Beijing store a few months later. Why? Because this is my business, my career and my passion. I'm here to stay."

In February, she returned to Hefei and paid a visit to the outdoor antiques market. "New things and fakes filled my eyes. In fact, I found little reason to lean over for a closer look," she says. "For us, the only way is up."

(China Daily European Weekly 08/12/2016 page16)

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