Buying Chinese art today can seem more like paying for a brand than a knowledgeable purchase. It wasn't always thus. In Ming times, connoisseurs would come many times to inspect a Chinese ink painting before purchasing the scroll. Those two worlds collide this week when Hong Kong's six- year-old Asian Art Archive holds its annual fundraising dinner at the China Club on Dec. 7. The organization, known as the AAA, was set up by Claire Hsu to provide a library and archival materials to improve the understanding of contemporary Asian art, as well as directing research projects and hosting talks from curators and artists. Its new, bright, space in Hollywood Center, near the central business district, is open to all. The dinner includes a hugely popular auction of works, both from the "brand names" that are the toast of the global contemporary art market, and from emerging local talent. Zhang Xiaogang, whose 1994 work "Family Portrait," sold for $5 million at Sotheby's last month, has donated his Tian'anmen Square Series of seven lithographs. The Warhol-like repetitions of the Imperial Palace, each in a different neon color, have a top estimate of HK$500,000 ($64,236). By contrast, Hong Kong artist Chow Chun-fai's guarded Marilyn Monroe enamel painting, "Once a Thief," is valued at between HK$30,000 and HK$50,000. South Asian works will be well represented, reflecting the AAA's expansion in the subcontinent. The archive created new research positions last year in Lahore and New Delhi and is holding a series of talks in association with Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg News, including Indian collector Anupam Poddar and Sri Lankan curator Sharmini Pereira. Indian Miniatures "Now that we're established in the East Asian art world, we can take on South Asia," said Hsu, director of the AAA. Imran Qureshi is an example of an artist who is revolutionizing traditional Indian miniatures with works like "Patched," a complex, small-format piece. For around HK$70,000 to HK$80,000, its eye-catching combination of scientific and vegetal elements is painted in gouache on traditional wasli paper. Rossi & Rossi Gallery in London donated a work by Tibetan artist, Gonkar Gyatso. "Buddha in Modern Time," is a mixture of ancient Tibetan techniques and socio-political modern Chinese painting. The work, in sticker and pencil on paper, is estimated to fetch between HK$55,000 and HK$80,000. Sotheby's Henry Howard-Sneyd is flying in from New York to bring the hammer down on the big-ticket lots, while less-costly works will be sold through a silent auction. Tickets to the dinner are sold out, but absentee bids are accepted until 10 a.m. on auction day. The event will also inaugurate the AAA's endowment project, with the goal of raising HK$50 million within five years. It's all in a good cause: Injecting a bit more knowledge and understanding into Asia's bubble-like contemporary art market. The auction lots can be previewed from Dec. 4-6 at Sotheby's, 31/F One Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Hong Kong.