by Wu Guanzhong

As prices of art works, both traditional and contemporary, continue to rise, Chinese art museums are facing a tough situation in terms of collecting new works, their limited funding allowances placing the institutions under increasing financial pressure.

Recently the Ministry of Culture initiated a project evaluating top-priority art museums nationwide, with the issue of funding shortages taking center stage.

According to Evaluating Methods on National Top-Priority Art Museums, among the many requirements for a museum to be classed as a national top-priority art museum, 3 million yuan ($440,000) must be spent on collecting works each year.

This stipulation has ignited debate in the art world, with some people saying that 3 million yuan is too high a standard for many art museums. Others are insisting that the figure is too low, as 3 million yuan can hardly buy one precious work in today's Chinese art market.

Shanghai Art Museum, one of the most acclaimed art museums in the country, has a large collection of modern and contemporary paintings, as well as first-class exhibiting spaces. The museum is "not qualified to be a top-priority art museum" as last year only 2 million yuan ($290,000) was allocated by the Shanghai Financial Bureau for its collecting budget, according to a report in the Shanghai-based Youth Daily.

According to the report, as an art museum with a 54-year history and a high reputation in the Chinese art world, much of Shanghai Art Museum's works were collected several decades ago when prices of modern pieces were much lower than today.

Recently-collected new works have mostly been donated by the artists themselves. Contemporary art master Wu Guanzhong donated 66 paintings early last year to the institution.

"Each of Wu's paintings is worthy of far more than several million yuan," Zhang Qing, vice director of Shanghai Art Museum, was quoted by the newspaper as saying. He mentioned that the museum's budget of 2 million yuan could hardly even buy a good apartment in Shanghai. However, according to Zhang, 2 million yuan is much higher than several years before, but in the face of the rising price of art, it is an utterly inadequate amount of money.

"A rare hand roll by a famous Song calligrapher was sold for over 100 million yuan ($15 million) late last year, while even a painting by a modern artist like Lin Fengmian sells for tens of million yuan," Zhang said.

"A collecting fund of 2 million yuan makes it hard for the museum to buy one rare work each year!"

Compared with Shanghai Art Museum receiving donations from artists as well as individual collectors, the majority of lesser-known art museums in China are not so lucky and a large number are only allocated a much smaller sum each year, reported China Culture News, a daily newspaper from the Ministry of Culture.

"There are few art museums spending more than several million yuan each year on collecting artworks today," commented independent art critic He Yan. "Many precious works went to the hands of private collectors, as museums failed to afford the sky-high prices.

He said that although it is good for the domestic art world to see more and more individual collectors buy works with high prices, it is still better for a rare work to be kept in a public art museum.

He added that art museums frequently display important pieces, enabling ordinary art lovers to enjoy them. "But it is hard to view them while they are kept in some private collections."

Furthermore, in China many new collectors are buying artworks as a way of investment, not out of enthusiasm for art, He explained. Pieces are bought and sold frequently, which may inevitably damage a precious work in the process.

"An art museum wouldn't sell its collection frequently," He said. "It will also preserve its collections more effectively." Facing the tough situation of funding shortages, many critics are arguing that art museums need to stand on their own two feet to raise more money.

In China, the majority of art museums are sponsored by local governments, with government subsidies their only financial resource, according to art researcher Dong Yunchuan.

"Art museums should try all ways to make money and not only rely on government subsides," Dong said, adding that in Western countries, aside from government aid, patronages from art foundations and individuals as well as donations from businesses and corporations are the major sources of funds.