view of Taikang’s NAMOC exhibition.

In the West it’s not rare to see philanthropic families or companies sponsor art; in fact their patronage has been one of the main propellers of arts and culture’s prosperity aboard.

But will such charitable figures also appear in China, where the growth of bank accounts is still the sole goal for most entrepreneurs and financiers?

An exhibition at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), hosted by the Taikang Space, which is owned by Taikang Life Insurance, might just offer a positive answer to this question.

Entitled Image·History·Existence, the exhibition showcases some of Taikang’s collection. The company started collecting contemporary Chinese art 10 years ago, when there were few domestic buyers on the scene.

On display are 52 pieces dating back to 1942 – when Chairman Mao gave his famous Yan’an speech arguing that art and literature should serve the people – to today, with media ranging from oil paintings to photography, installations and video works.

The exhibition can be seen as reflecting the development of Chinese society for the past six decades.

Tang Xin, director of Taikang Space, says she feels she’s not only "collecting art, but collecting Chinese history."

Being showcased are revolutionary romanticist oils such as The Chinese People Have Stood Up by Jiang Zhaohe and Chen Yifei’s Eulogy of the Yellow River, which are representative of the age when "New China" was founded.

Also present are avant-garde artists like Zhang Xiaogang, Wang Guangyi and Fang Lijun whose ironic Realist works were created in the 1990s, when China underwent dramatic changes in almost every aspect of life.

And a range of high-tech multi-media works of the so-called "new-generation," who were born in the 1970s and 1980s, are among the highlights.

Tang says they are focusing on the younger generation because their artworks reflect what China is turning into.

"Artists are always the most sensitive seers," Tang told the Global Times. "Talking to them always makes you feel you understand more about what is happening around you."

Zhang Xiaogang’s masterpiece Bloodline: Chen Weimin(1993).

Many of the exhibits were bought at auction for prices that stunned many, with record sums widely reported by domestic and international media.

Taikang’s CEO Chen Dongsheng is the engine behind this purchasing power. An aficionado who founded China Guardian, the first art auction house in China, in the 1990s, Chen has been buying avant-garde art since the 1980s, when works were mainly being bought by collectors from the West.

Although they started much earlier than many others, Taikang is not the only business eyeing this field today. More companies are showing interest in sponsoring art, through buying new works or financing an art organization.

The ever-growing market is, to some extent, a result of this increasing attention. In the past two years, more than a few Chinese pieces, both ancient and contemporary, have sold for astronomical prices.

Most buyers, insiders say, are financial or industrial companies from across China. Few are actually wealthy enough to continuously buy works sold for tens of millions of yuan.

The Golden Eagle Broadcasting System in Hunan is among those with deep pockets. It has bought works from every spring or autumn sale in recent years, and is gradually forging its own collection.

The most expensive piece sold this year, Qi Baishi’s A Long Life, A Peaceful World (1946), commissioned by Chiang Kai-shek, was reportedly bought for $65 million by Golden Eagle.

While many are complaining that the art world has been badly distorted by the sudden influx of wealthy people and their companies, others see a positive function, in terms of founding new art.

"Sponsoring art, no matter in what ways they adopt, is surely helpful for the renaissance of Chinese art," says market expert Zhao Yu.

For art-buying Western companies like Swiss Bank Corp (SBC), owning a large-scale collection and sponsoring young artists is part of their daily work. Maintaining such activities not only greatly boost SBC’s reputation but also make a huge contribution to art’s prosperity.

In China such corporate activities are just starting to make their first appearance, Zhao says.

"Things will get better… Art always needs money and care."