Mainland Chinese buyers prefer to get their works from a vendor with high visibility and a strong reputation, the South China Morning Post reports in the wake of several sales in Hong Kong this weekend:

“Chinese buyers usually either buy at auctions or from the most reputable and best known dealers,” said Sotheby’s Asia CEO Kevin Ching. […]

Auctions account for nearly 70 per cent of art sales across China, according to a recent survey by research firm Arts Economics.

“It’s not that there has been a sharp decrease in Western bidders…it’s that because of the buying power of the Chinese they are the ones who win the objects in the end,” said Ching.