China's Hainan takes lead in promoting global cultural and art trading
The trading system of the Hainan International Cultural and Art Trading Center was officially put into operation on June 19 after more than six months of preparations, reported Economic Information Daily Tuesday.
The center aims at creating a highland for the trading of cultural and artistic works around the globe in accordance with related international trading rules, as well as demonstrating the excellent Chinese culture and China's cultural confidence.
By relying on "artwork plus internet plus finance plus science and technology", and with "signing plus consignment" as the core business, the center provides integrated services of identification, evaluation, traceability, custody, offline display, online transaction, big data, finance and arbitration, according to Pan Jianping, general manager of the center.
Hainan taking the lead in setting up international cultural and art trading rules and standards system will be helpful for establishing China's voice and pricing power in related international trade by using renminbi for quotation and cross-border trade settlement, and promoting China's foreign cultural trade and the Chinese culture to "go global".
It will also be conducive to facilitating the return of China's overseas cultural relics, and cultivating a prosperous consumption market of cultural and artistic products by realizing the open and frequent circulation of such products among the masses.
Insiders suggest that Hainan should set up supporting trading rules and regulatory policies, and further improve the artwork trading and artwork market taxation system, as well as the non-resident transaction system and norms.
According to the UK's Hiscox online art trade report, the global online art market transaction volume is expected to hit 9.14 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. Data show that by the end of 2018, the number of Chinese art collectors and investors has reached hundreds of millions, and it is still increasing at a rate of about 10 percent annually.
