The South China Morning Post’s Enid Tsui spoke to Hu Yanyan about China Guardian’s moves to expand in Beijing and upgrade their Hong Kong sales after five years in the territory.

China Guardian will hold its Autumn sales in the Hong Kong Convention Centre, an upgrade from the JW Marriott Hotel, with a Zao Wou-ki 1.5.70 leading the sale:

“We are calling 2017 ‘Guardian’s year’. This is a big moment for us,” she explains.

A new headquarters in Beijing, called the Guardian Art Centre, will open this autumn. Tad Smith, Sotheby’s chief executive, and Kevin Ching, its Asia chief, were given a tour last September of what is Guardian’s boldest endeavour yet. This multipurpose building, on Wangfujing Street in the heart of Beijing, will host all of Guardian’s auctions in China from November this year onwards. It will also be used for exhibitions, art storage and restoration, and educational purposes, and will include a five-star hotel.

“We have no plan to hold auctions in other cities, but the company will expand vertically under a separate subsidiary called China Guardian Investment. It will manage the new Beijing building, hire the space out for exhib­itions, run courses for people of all ages, and publish books and magazines about art,” Hu says.

China Guardian and Sotheby’s going head to head in Hong Kong this autumn, as Chinese auction house expands in city (South China Morning Post)