"Outing" by Liu Ye

Unlike the focus in the past, the focus this year in contemporary art is traditional style, whether on rice paper or canvas.

The entire third floor will be devoted to Chinese ceramics.

"Apart from paintings, sculptures and calligraphy, we hope to nurture some Chinese collectors in ceramics," Wang says. "This year the Shanghai Art Fair caters to Chinese collectors."

Likewise, SHContemporary has its "new bold initiatives." These include the Collector's Development Program that aims to engage a new generation of collectors; Discoveries program that explores the question "what is contemporary art?"; The Best Galleries program that invites top Asian and international galleries; Platform, a new section for emerging artists and work produced in the last two years.

Whatever its initiatives and tactics, the basic strategy is the same: buying and selling art.

SHContemporary has had quite a few directors and shifted focus and there are reports in the art community that it will not be held next year.

Pierre Huber and Zhou Tiehai, two "founding fathers" of SHContemporary, quit immediately after the first fair in 2007. Then Lorenzo Rudolf left after the second edition. The future of the new fair director Colin Chinnery remains to be seen.

It's a mission impossible to carry on its previous glamour.

"It's closing will/would be a great loss for the city," laments an art industry insider who declined to be named. "Obviously art dealing is not so healthy in China these days.

"The country has suffered for centuries. Today people are busy buying houses or cars, or the next round of houses and cars. Spiritually, they are not seeking art. For many people, art is just another form of investment. Art merely represents a monetary figure."

It's too early to expect a healthy and mature art market in China, according to most observers.

"It took Western people several centuries to nurture their royal art collectors, connoisseurs and sponsors. How could we achieve the same thing in just several decades?" asks Wang Yuhong, a local artist.

"I do believe there will come a day when many people will buy art with a pious heart."

(Shanghai Daily September 10, 2009)