Largest Auction Website for Chinese Art to OpenChina's premiere auction house announced Friday that it will open a comprehensive website for online auctions of Chinese art and cultural relics next month.Together with Cable & Wireless HK Telecom (CWHKT) and Soft Bank China Venture Capital (SBCVC), China Guardian Auctions Co., Ltd. has invested heavily into the on-line auction house, which debuts June 18 at www.guaweb.com. Wang Yannan, Guardian's president and daughter of former Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang, would not reveal the exact cost of the site, but said, "Guaweb must carry on Guardian's high standards and will try to be an influential website worldwide." Guardian has gained an international reputation in its field among domestic and overseas collectors. SBCVC, a venture capital company which started up four months ago, and CWHKT, a world-leading IT company, are working with Guardian to expand its web business. Guaweb will establish its own board of directors, and will not act as a subsidiary of Guardian. However, the online auctioneers will use Guardian's business links for gathering, appraising and selling auction lots, said sources from Guaweb. According to Guardian's development plan, Guaweb will mainly trade in items of traditional Chinese art and precious cultural relics. Meanwhile, it will also experiment with auctions for public property and second-hand consumer goods from businesses or individuals. Wang said that Guardian and its partners were well aware of and prepared for the hazards of on-line commerce, such as securing payment from customers, properly managing the stock of goods, and establishing web-related technological support. Linus W. L. Cheung, chief executive of CWHKT, said that his company plans to invest enthusiastically in e-commerce in China. "We have great expectations for Guaweb, and CWHKT is going to help it become the most authoritative on-line auction house for selling Chinese art," Cheung said. The state's first comprehensive auction company authorized by the government in 1993, Guardian has since held 12 spring and autumn auctions which sold more than 10,000 pieces of antiques and jewelry, with total earnings of about 700 million yuan (84.34 million U.S. dollars). |
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