Art lovers will have a golden opportunity to buy fine 20th-century Chinese art this weekend in Beijing.

Rongbao Auction Co Ltd, an affiliate of three-century-old art dealer Rongbaozhai, will stage an auction of modern Chinese paintings on Sunday at the Asia Hotel.

A pre-auction exhibition is taking place at the hotel until Saturday.

The more than 300 lots are priced from 5,000 to 1 million yuan (US$600 to 120,000).

Paintings created during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), which are commonly referred to as "red art," make up an important part of the exhibition and auction, according to the auctioneer's spokeswoman Wu Biliu.

Despite its excessive symbolism, "red art" includes some of the best artworks of New China as they involve a passion, or craze, that is tough to repeat.

The "red art" section of the auction includes both the art of young Red Guards, which has an inherent historical value, and ink paintings, oils, prints and cartoons by professional artists.

The highlight of the section is seven portraits by Shanghai-based artist Yan Meihua, who was the hottest artist during those 10 years.

Besides important works of late masters such as Li Keran (1907-1989), Qi Baishi (1863-1957) and Xu Beihong (1895-1953), the auction and exhibition also place an emphasis on fine works of contemporary artists including Wu Guanzhong, Huang Yongyu and He Jiaying.

"We have every reason to believe that contemporary artists are emerging as the mainstream of China's art market as fewer and fewer works can be found of the late masters," said Wu.

(China Daily July 14, 2005)