Christie’s auction in Shanghai is bringing out the talking points in a press battle between Christie’s CEO Steven Murphy and Poly Auction’s Zhao Xu:

Zhao Xu, executive director of Poly, owned by Poly Group, a defence contractor originally formed by the People’s Liberation Army, recently said he doubted the ability of foreign houses to compete in the mainland art market.

“Chinese still prefer a big Chinese auction house run by Chinese people to help them sell their art works, since . . . Chinese people know better [about Chinese art],” he told the FT.

Mr Murphy said Christie’s had already been successful in selling Chinese art in Hong Kong, adding that “transparency and authentication” were also advantages that the long-established foreign houses might have over a local auction house.

Christie’s confident over first China mainland auction (Financial Times)