17 January 2007 - 21:01Chinese takeaway

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to bring valuable Chinese art treasures back to their country of origin. According to a report in the International Herald Tribune, the Chinese government is concerned at an acute art shortage in the country, which plans to build 1,000 new museums by 2015, including 32 in Beijing alone in time for the 2008 Olympics. China also wants to build 100 museums in Shanghai in advance of the opening of the World’s Fair in the city in 2010.

The PLA certainly has the financial resources to embark on an international spending spree. It has so far been buying only Chinese art, and can draw on China’s vast currency reserves, currently believed to stand at over $700 billion, to finance purchases. Those purchases may also include Western masterpieces, and the Chinese may be prepared to pay above their market value.

The Chinese are believed to be particularly keen on acquiring some of the countless imperial Chinese bronzes that are now in the West.