Christie's adds new category to fetch Chinese buyers

For foreign auction houses that aren't legally allowed to sell Chinese antiquities on the mainland, an important strategy is to create new collection fields.

Last October, Christie's launched an auction of contemporary Chinese designs in Shanghai. A total of 22 lots with price estimates, upward of 10,000 yuan ($1,600), were sold.

It will auction 35 design works, mostly of Chinese masters with some by Japanese and South Korean artists, at a Shanghai sale on Saturday.