Confronting the global credit crunch, investors in traditional and contemporary Chinese arts are experiencing two disparate extremes. Some collectors are happy while others are depressed. In our Spotlight today we take a closer look at China's art market to find out what makes it this way.

Liu Xingang is a great fan of traditional Chinese paintings. He is also the Deputy Director of the Committee of China Collectors Association. Over the past decade he has accumulated a wide-ranging collection of fine arts. He also stays up-to-date on the art world's latest developments.

Liu said, "It takes a long time to collect paintings and calligraphy. It's not a short-term matter. Think about this, some of us continue to collect things even when there are fewer people interested in this business. Only in a situation like this will some of us have a chances to buy items at a lower price."

Organizers of the China Guardian Auctions say there are more than 52-hundred pieces on show during this year's Four Seasons Auction. The items cover an impressive array of collections, ranging from paintings and calligraphy, to porcelain and ancient manuscripts. Amid the worldwide credit crunch, sellers and consignors have been working together with auction companies to try to reduce prices. The results have been positive, stimulating buying in the sagging economy.

Wang Yannan, president of China Guardian Auctions, said, "The turnover of the three-day auction has reached over 150 million yuan. That's the best result we've ever achieved. And the number of participants are much higher than expected. And the atmosphere is very interactive. Over 80 percent of pieces of art at auctions have found buyers."

Contrary to the prosperity found in the traditional Chinese artifact market, the world of Chinese contemporary art has been going through one of its most difficult periods ever. Astronomical bidding prices have disappeared. And the capital turnover at modern art auctions has witnessed a dramatic decline.

Zhang Siyong has operated a modern art gallery for over ten years. But she finds herself at a crossroad due to the current situation.

Zhang said, "I had expected that August this year would be the best time for my business. On the contrary, we didn't sell a single piece of art in both July and August."

The contemporary Chinese art market remains gloomy. Zhang has sold only six pieces in the last three months this year. That's in sharp contrast to this time last year, when she had already sold 20 items.

Zhang said, "The downturn is giving us a hard time. Many people like me, are determined to hold cash, and wait for the right time to buy again. It's like the biological chain. The buyers and the information on the higher chain will greatly influence a great many of us on the lower chain. And this will result in many small-scale galleries closing down their business."

Some experts say the market for Chinese contemporary art has been growing too quickly in recent years. The supply of modern art works far exceeds the demands of the whole society.

Ma Weidu, curator of Guanfu Classical Art Museum of Beijing, said, "Many of the contemporary art items are solely controlled by the market. So there's no doubt the global financial crisis will make a great impact. That's because the market is more manipulated by the people, than the artifacts themselves."

Many experts agree that the monetary value of contemporary art pieces are overly market oriented. But the actual value of the piece of art itself, is most of the time, ignored. Investors and collectors nowadays should be able to tell which sort of pieces can withstand the market fluctuation, and which ones can not.

Peng Feng, professor of Peking University, said, "I don't think now is the best time to buy. That's because it's hard to fix the value of an artifact by a number only. It's a critical time now. Probably many artifacts you see in the market today, may not be here tomorrow."

But whatever the market is, experts advise that high quality traditional Chinese artifacts are always a good investment for buyers at any time.