A visitor looks at a ten-piece set paper screenprint of Mao Zedong by Andy Warhol, which is part of Warhol's series of the late Chinese leader, displayed at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre during Christie's 2008 Spring Sales May 26, 2008.

LONDON | Wed Mar 13, 2013 8:33pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Chinese spending on art and antiques shrank by nearly a quarter in 2012, ending a streak of spectacular growth that helped drive up global prices and made China the biggest player in the market by 2011, a report said on Thursday.

The study, commissioned by the European Fine Art Foundation which organizes The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), estimated the worldwide art and antiques market contracted by seven percent last year to 43 billion euros ($56 billion).

The study, compiled by academic Clare McAndrew, founder of the consulting firm Arts Economics, estimated Chinese art sales fell 24 percent to 10.6 billion euros in 2012.

Auction sales in China dropped an even steeper 30 percent, pushing it into second place in the art market rankings with a 25 percent share behind the United States, which regained its position as market leader with 33 percent.

Britain remained the world's third most important art market at 23 percent, according to the study released to coincide with this year's TEFAF which opens in Maastricht on March 15.

"The main reasons for the deceleration in (Chinese) growth were both demand factors (including a slowdown in economic growth and continuing liquidity constraints) and a reduced amount of high quality, high priced works coming onto the market," said the report.

"Many art funds and other speculative investors also reduced their participation in the market during the year."

The study added that collectors were increasingly focusing on works by so-called "blue chip" artists.

"Many art buyers are minimizing risk by opting for the best-known artists at the top end of the market with post-war and contemporary art performing strongly," it said.

That helped boost auction sales of post-war and contemporary art by five percent in 2012 to almost 4.5 billion euros and took that sector's overall market share to 43 percent.

Modern art was the next biggest sector with auction sales of 3.2 billion euros, representing 30 percent of the fine art auction market but a fall of 17 percent from its 2011 peak of 3.8 billion.

Private retail and dealer sales, as opposed to the auction room, fell four percent to 22.2 billion euros, with the lower end of the market recording the weakest performance.

Several art analysts have voiced concerns over what they say is a growing divide between the top end of the market, where ultra-wealthy buyers snap up rare treasures for staggering sums, and mid- to lower-tier sales which have been more susceptible to broader economic pressures.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

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LONDON | Tue Jan 29, 2013 11:13am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - British and Chinese scientists have found a genetic variant which explains why Chinese populations may be more vulnerable to the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu.

The discovery of the variant could help doctors find those people at high risk of severe flu and prioritize them for treatment, researchers said.

It may also help explain why new strains of flu virus often emerge first in Asia, where the variant known as rs12252-C is more common in the population than elsewhere, they said.

"Understanding why some people may be worse affected than others is crucial in improving our ability to manage flu epidemics and to prevent people dying from the virus," said Tao Dong at Britain's Oxford University, who led the study.

The research, published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, found that having the rs12252-C variant could increase the chances of severe infection by six times.

H1N1 swine flu swept around the world in 2009 and 2010. A study published last week estimated at least one in five people worldwide were infected and around 200,000 killed in the first year of the outbreak, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation in June 2009.

Previous research has found that rs12252-C is linked to more severe flu infections.

For this study, researchers focused on the variant because it is 100 times more common in Han Chinese, the predominant ethnic group in China, than in Caucasian populations indigenous to West Asia and Europe. The variant is present in the genetic make-up of about 1 in 3,000 people in Caucasian populations.

The results showed it was present in 69 percent of Chinese patients with severe pandemic H1N1 in 2009 compared with 25 percent who only had a mild version of the infection.

Andrew McMichael of Oxford's human immunology unit said further studies are now needed to look in more detail at the gene variant's effect on flu severity in different populations.

"It remains to be seen how this gene affects the whole picture of influenza in China and South East Asia but it might help explain why new influenza viruses often first appear in this region of the world," he said in a statement.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Tom Pfeiffer)

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TEL AVIV | Wed Jan 2, 2013 7:32am EST

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Leading Chinese companies are looking for investments in Israeli technology to help boost their growth and development, similar to what U.S. companies have done in the past two decades.

A delegation of senior Chinese business leaders visited Israel last month in search of opportunities, pressing ahead with the trip despite rockets that fell in the commercial centre of the country during fighting with Gaza militants.

The delegation, led by Ronnie Chan, chairman of investment holding company Hang Lung Group, included the heads of Lenovo Group, China's top grains trader COFCO, investment banking and private equity firm Hina Group, China Merchants Bank and JP Morgan Chase in China.

Chan noted that many technologies in applications and products from companies such as Google and Intel originated in Israel, and Chinese companies would like to explore similar ventures.

"The sky is the limit," Chan told Reuters. "Some companies can set up research and development centers here, some can bring Israeli companies to China, some can open up the Chinese market for Israeli companies. I have no idea where this will lead."

Chan, a property magnate, said his family business owns technology companies around the world but has no investments in Israel.

Lenovo's operations in Israel had been limited to sales and support, but the company recently made its first technology investment, for an undisclosed amount, in venture capital firm Vertex.

"Definitely we are interested in Israel's technology, to grow our company, to grow our business," Chief Executive Yang Yuanqing said, adding that the investment in Vertex was just a first step.

Lenovo, which is on track to become the world's No. 1 PC maker, is interested in information and mobile technology.

Bilateral trade between China and Israel totaled $8 billion in 2011, according to Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Chinese have invested $3 billion in Israeli companies to date. The biggest investment was the $1.4 billion acquisition of 60 percent of MA Industries, the world's largest maker of generic crop protection chemicals, by China National Chemical Corp (ChemChina) in late 2011.

"Since 2010, we saw for the first time significant Chinese investments in the real economy in Israel - in traditional industries like MA Industries and also in the high-tech sector, in biotechnology and agrotechnology," Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz told Reuters.

Edouard Cukierman, managing partner of private equity funds Catalyst Investments, which organized the delegation's trip to Israel with the Foreign Ministry, said the visit by the Chinese companies could lead to acquisitions, investments in research and development centers and even the establishment of their own local operations.

"We are following up with each one of them, preparing specific action plans for each one of them," Cukierman said. "They believe they can benefit from innovation in Israel more than the Americans did."

Catalyst Partners is establishing a $100 million China-Israel technology fund that is expected to close in the first half of 2013. Cukierman hopes to eventually reach $200 million.

(Additional reporting by Steven Scheer)

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Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:15pm EDT

n">(Reuters) - Bankrupt solar firm Solyndra has filed a lawsuit against three U.S.-listed Chinese solar players, including Suntech Power Holdings Co (STP.N), seeking $1.5 billion in compensation due to monopolization by these firms, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

The lawsuit was filed against Suntech, Trina Solar Ltd (TSL.N) and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co (YGE.N) claiming that the trio's panel prices moved in tandem - falling 75 percent in four years in the U.S.

Solyndra, which claims in the lawsuit that the trio were involved in predatory pricing and price fixing, filed for bankruptcy a year ago as it could no longer compete with plunging prices of solar panels imported from China.

U.S. solar companies launched a complaint last year alleging protectionism from Beijing for Chinese panel makers, sparking trade disputes between the two countries.

As a result of the ongoing tryst, the U.S. slapped steep final duties on billions of dollars of solar energy products from China earlier this week.

Defendants - Suntech, Trina and Yingli - came to the U.S. and raised money from the stock market and deployed that capital to "destroy" American solar manufacturers, said Solyndra in the suit filed in a Northern California district court.

"We just received notice of this complaint, but from our initial review, these are unwarranted and misguided claims from a company that has a clear history of failed technology and achievements," said Robert Petrina, Managing Director, Yingli Green Energy Americas.

The other two Chinese companies named as defendants were not available for comment outside of business hours.

Solyndra has sold everything from its remaining inventory and assembly equipment to office computers in a bid to raise money to repay creditors.

The Obama administration came under fire for missing signs of financial trouble at the California-based Solyndra and approving nearly $535 million in loans in a bid to spark a clean energy industry and create jobs through stimulus spending.

Last year, executives from bankrupt Solyndra LLC testified that a flood of cheap Chinese solar panels kept it from realizing $1.2 billion in contracts it announced in 2008.

The lawsuit is Solyndra, LLC v. Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 12-05272.

(Reporting by Thyagaraju Adinarayan and Divya Lad in Bangalore; Editing by Bernard Orr and Michael Perry)

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1 of 2. ''Snake Ceiling,'' by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, is pictured at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo in 2009, in this handout photograph obtained on October 2, 2012. The work is part of Ai's first major U.S. art exhibition scheduled for launch at Washington's Hirshhorn Museum on October 6, 2012. The show, ''Ai Weiwei: According to What?'', groups sculpture, photography, video, audio and installation work.

WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 2, 2012 4:50pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's most famous political dissident, Ai Weiwei, launches his first major U.S. art exhibition on Sunday with some unflinchingly political works, including an image of his brain bleeding from a police beating.

The show, "Ai Weiwei: According to What?" at Washington's Hirshhorn Museum groups sculpture, photography, video, audio and installation work.

The choice of the Hirshhorn on the National Mall reflects Ai's desire to connect with political leaders, hundreds of foreign diplomats and the network of think tanks in the U.S. capital, museum director Richard Koshalek told reporters.

Ai said in a statement: "This exhibition has been an opportunity to re-examine past work and communicate with audiences from afar. I see it as a stream of activities rather than a fixed entity."

Ai's 81-day detention last year sparked an international outcry. Activists see authorities' tax evasion case against him as an attempt to muzzle the artist over his criticism of the Chinese government.

The exhibition fills much of the ring-shaped museum with scores of Ai's works. It centers on such themes as the relationship between art, society and individual experience.

The works include dozens of ink jet prints of the construction of Beijing's 2008 Olympic Stadium, which he helped design, and "China Log," a 63-inch-high (1.61-metre-high) map of China made of ironwood taken from demolished temples.

Much of show is devoted to the deadly 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province and the thousands of schoolchildren who died when shoddily constructed buildings collapsed. Ai was among the dissidents who had challenged Chinese authorities to investigate the deaths.

The ghostlike magnetic resonance image of his bleeding brain, measuring 3.3 by 6.5 feet, he attributes to a 2009 police beating.

"Snake Ceiling" is a 295-foot (90-meter) sculpture of a twisting snake made from student backpacks and mounted on the museum's ceiling.

A wall-sized print shows the names of 5,000 students killed in the quake. They are recited on a three-hour, 41-minute voice recording nearby.

Ai, 55, who is not allowed to leave China, was in frequent contact with organizers about how his works were displayed, curator Mami Kataoka said.

China is piling more pressure on Ai, with the artist saying on Tuesday that authorities have revoked the business license of the company that produces his art.

"Ai Weiwei: According to What?" runs at the Hirshhorn until February 24, 2013. It then travels to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, Miami's Perez Art Museum and the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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1 of 9. Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (C) buys fruit from a local vendor on the street outside the Chaoyang District Court before trying to attend his appeal verdict hearing in Beijing September 27, 2012.

BEIJING | Thu Sep 27, 2012 10:21am EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court upheld a $2.4 million tax evasion fine against China's most famous dissident Ai Weiwei on Thursday, ending his long legal battle with the authorities but paving the way for him to be jailed if he does not pay.

The loss of Ai's second appeal in a higher court means that the world-renowned artist could risk arrest if he does not pay a remaining fine of around 6.6 million yuan ($1.05 million), in a case that has further tarnished China's poor human rights reputation.

He has paid a bond of 8.45 million yuan already lodged with the tax authorities to contest the tax charge.

Ai, whose 81-day detention last year sparked an international outcry, told Reuters he will not pay the remaining fine as that would be tacit acknowledgement of the case's legality, which he has always maintained is trumped up.

Ai said he is uncertain whether he faces arrest if he doesn't do so.

"If I need to go to jail, there's nothing I can do about it," Ai said. "This country has no fairness and justice, even if I've paid the 6 million yuan, I still could possibly go to jail. They don't need an excuse to arrest me - they can always find another excuse at any time."

The case is widely seen by activists as an attempt to muzzle the outspoken artist, who has repeatedly criticized the Chinese government for flouting the rule of law and the rights of citizens.

Ai, 55, had asked the Chaoyang District Court to overturn the city tax office's rejection of his appeal against the 15 million yuan ($2.38 million) tax evasion penalty imposed on the company he works for, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd, which produces his art and designs.

Ai, who has waged a near five-month long legal battle with a Beijing tax agency, said he could not appeal further and has not enough cash to pay the remaining 6.6 million yuan, adding that the tax agency has not given him a deadline to pay.

Government efforts to silence Ai have frequently backfired, as demonstrated by an outpouring of public sympathy - and cash - in response to the tax penalty.

Ai had collected more than 9 million yuan, he says he will start to return, from about 30,000 donors, to pay the bond. Many of Ai's supporters folded money into paper planes that were flown over the walls of his home.

Earlier, an angry Ai, who was allowed to attend court in person for the first time and without an obvious police presence, said he scolded the judge for being a "shame and a disgrace".

"It (the court) didn't respect the facts or give us a chance to defend ourselves; it has no regard for taxpayers' rights," he told reporters.

He said the court had flouted Chinese law by not providing a written notification of the appeal verdict three days in advance, and only notifying his wife, Lu Qing, by telephone earlier this week. One of his lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang, is in France and could not make it back in time.

Ai's loss of his appeal is a predictable outcome in a country where the courts, controlled by the ruling Communist Party, toe the government line. It also underscores Beijing's increasing intolerance of dissent ahead of a tricky transition of power later this year.

"I never imagined the court would disregard the facts this much, be so unreasonable and so insulting," Ai said.

($1 = 6.3066 Chinese yuan)

(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Maxim Duncan; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

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n">Aug 9 (Reuters) - A former U.S. lawmaker who lobbied for China's second largest telecommunications-equipment maker, ZTE Corp, severed ties with the company last month after reports that the FBI is investigating ZTE for allegedly selling banned computer equipment to Iran, according to a lobbying disclosure report.

Former Representative Jon Christensen, a Nebraska Republican, filed a termination report to the U.S. Senate's lobbying disclosure database saying he stopped representing the company as of July 13, a day after news broke of the FBI investigation.

Christensen, who served in Congress in the 1990s, did not respond to phone calls or emails on Thursday.

"ZTE doesn't comment on personnel matters," said Anna Hughes of Ogilvy Public Relations, speaking on behalf of ZTE.

Christensen's departure was first reported by Politico.

The FBI probe and a separate one by the U.S. Department of Commerce were triggered by a Reuters report in March that Shenzhen, China-based ZTE had sold Iran's largest telecom a surveillance system capable of monitoring landline, mobile and Internet communications.

A day after the Reuters report, the Commerce Department issued a subpoena to ZTE. The company's general counsel in Texas, Ashley Kyle Yablon, told FBI agents that ZTE officials at that point discussed shredding documents relevant to the subpoena, according an FBI affidavit first reported by the website The Smoking Gun.

Yablon told the FBI the company used "sub companies" to buy sophisticated U.S. telecommunications equipment to get around restrictions on selling to countries like Iran.

ZTE, which sells equipment in 140 countries, according to its website, reported revenues in 2010 of $10.6 billion.

Primarily known for its smart phones, ZTE has a subsidiary specializing in surveillance and security technology.

The United States first imposed trade sanctions on Iran in 1979. More recently, the United States has joined other nations in additional trade sanctions based on its alleged nuclear weapons program.

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