Save avant-garde art

Will what has happened to New York's artists happen to Beijing's avant-garde art community?

At the rate things are going, the answer is, unfortunately, yes. First, some background is in order.

While Beijing has always been an important visual arts center, the emergence of cutting-edge, avant-garde Chinese art is a relatively recent development in New China. It only dates back to the 1990s, when some leaders who had a taste for Western culture encouraged avant-garde art and architecture. At the end of the decade, the Ministry of Culture organized exhibitions showcasing the latest Chinese "New Wave" art at the Venice Biennale, a world showcase for modern art.