Reality check

For Xu Lijun, a businesswoman in Beijing, contemporary Chinese art was once something far out of her reach.

"Besides my work, I spent most of my leisure time shopping, doing sports and traveling. Art virtually had no place in my life. "

That changed on a summer day in 2006 when she was invited to a wine appreciation party at an art gallery in 798 Art Zone, one of the hotbeds for contemporary Chinese art.