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Sunshine Promising Inc.
Monthly Newsletter
Apr. 25, 2007
100% Hand-made, Are You Sure?
Edited by Sunshine Promising, Inc. Your Best Arts Partner from China
---- In our March’s Newsletter, we mentioned print in portrait. Since it is becoming a trend in
painting industry, we add one more edition, extending to overall reproductions, and put forward
the topic of macro control and directions for this industry.
As a gallery, you may claim your paintings that you are selling are 100% hand-made on
your website. So, are you sure 100%?
Are you directly importing from China? If yes, then probability of not 100% hand-making for
realism, classical, small-brushstroked impressionism, modern landscape etc. that need
relatively exact resemblance is 30% or more given the prevailing trend of printing first layer
on canvas before painting. (A tip, linen canvas is not easy to be printed onto.)
You may feel it is nothing to do with your business since you are importing from Europe,
Mid-east, North Africa or HK. Not necessary! According to custom statistics, during the
period from 1989 to 1999, HK is the main transition market selling Chinese oil painting
reproductions to Europe and US. After 2000, Mid-east, North Africa, loomed as two other
strong buyers of arts products from China. For instance, a small country in North Africa,
Morocco, started selling large volume of oil paintings made in China directly to US from
Year 2006. Before 2006, total export value from Morocco to US was 6 thousand USD in a
whole year of 2005, but increasing at exponential growth rate, during the period from
January to April of 2006, it soared up to 2.694 million USD. Oil paintings from China is like
air floating into each corner of the world given it’s been expanding at dramatic speed,
forming a pillar of cultural products export in China.
Naturally, we would question, without enough supervision or control of government or
association, the industry has been growing from an infant in early 1980s to a big adult now.
Is such adult self-disciplined enough? Are there bubbles or is hormone used? Or
government should have exerted macro control to prevent it from deviating from track? Or
the least, an association should have been established to regulate affairs such as setting
range of pricing, copyright infringement, prevention of price war, macro direction and plan
mapping-out for following years and so on, acting as a government agency to administrate
overall oil painting industry in China, or we just leave it as it is, like grass growing up and
fading away, and never having a chance to become a big tree.
Another question, why government didn’t show keen interest although they know for each
industry surely there are positive and negative facets and regulations definitely need to be
there? As from our experience with local government, it is because government did not see
their “enough profit” – tax from it. Why an industry even with yearly revenue of 0.3 billion or
more (2005 in Dafen Village, Shenzhen) can’t generate enough tax for government? As you
know, studios are mostly consisted of one or two masters and several apprentices,
producing and selling paintings to trading agents or foreign buyers directly, no tax involved,
then agents selling paintings to buyers overseas, lots of which are via air express service
since paintings are easier to go by rolling up or piling up, again, not so much tax to
confiscate. While, as Chinese governments of all levels, specially local governments focus
on local GDP, introduction of investment and tax revenue that can be helpful for their upper
level administration to judge their superficial politic achievement, who cares how many job
vacancies such industry is generating and will generate or be sustainable? Therefore, oil
painting industry still is like an adopted child, and can’t win the same support and attention
(such as official forums, researches, or debates) as the one for other traditional industries.
(Remember internet in China, Chinese government didn’t pay attention until one day new
types of violence was brought about via internet.)
Then it comes my final question, who or what are able to control the direction of navigation
of oil painting industry, without macro control from government over it? I think for the time
being, our conscience, integrity, fairness, perception, and responsibility to our end-
customers, can help lead the whole industry along a healthy way, when using our power of
purchasing, in other words. Each buyer is forming a small or big “government” with the
same nature of government if any. We are not gonna cheat our customers. Meanwhile, we
are protecting the best painters both domestic and abroad who have sharper eyes and
painting skills from being beaten down by those less skillful painters who print since most of
time inspection of paintings are via digital photos in which factor of resemblance still
accounts for 60%-70% in each painting inspection, no matter for portrait or impressionism
paintings, in short, fairness.
Let’s work together, and let’s educate painters together, making the painting business a
gold mine for more than 100 years, and more.
Written by
James Jianyin LIU
Sunshine Promising, Inc.
www.SunshinePromising.com
Your Best Arts Partner
Apr. 25, 2007
100% Hand-made, Are You Sure?
Edited by Sunshine Promising, Inc. Your Best Arts Partner from China
---- In our March’s Newsletter, we mentioned print in portrait. Since it is becoming a trend in
painting industry, we add one more edition, extending to overall reproductions, and put forward
the topic of macro control and directions for this industry.
As a gallery, you may claim your paintings that you are selling are 100% hand-made on
your website. So, are you sure 100%?
Are you directly importing from China? If yes, then probability of not 100% hand-making for
realism, classical, small-brushstroked impressionism, modern landscape etc. that need
relatively exact resemblance is 30% or more given the prevailing trend of printing first layer
on canvas before painting. (A tip, linen canvas is not easy to be printed onto.)
You may feel it is nothing to do with your business since you are importing from Europe,
Mid-east, North Africa or HK. Not necessary! According to custom statistics, during the
period from 1989 to 1999, HK is the main transition market selling Chinese oil painting
reproductions to Europe and US. After 2000, Mid-east, North Africa, loomed as two other
strong buyers of arts products from China. For instance, a small country in North Africa,
Morocco, started selling large volume of oil paintings made in China directly to US from
Year 2006. Before 2006, total export value from Morocco to US was 6 thousand USD in a
whole year of 2005, but increasing at exponential growth rate, during the period from
January to April of 2006, it soared up to 2.694 million USD. Oil paintings from China is like
air floating into each corner of the world given it’s been expanding at dramatic speed,
forming a pillar of cultural products export in China.
Naturally, we would question, without enough supervision or control of government or
association, the industry has been growing from an infant in early 1980s to a big adult now.
Is such adult self-disciplined enough? Are there bubbles or is hormone used? Or
government should have exerted macro control to prevent it from deviating from track? Or
the least, an association should have been established to regulate affairs such as setting
range of pricing, copyright infringement, prevention of price war, macro direction and plan
mapping-out for following years and so on, acting as a government agency to administrate
overall oil painting industry in China, or we just leave it as it is, like grass growing up and
fading away, and never having a chance to become a big tree.
Another question, why government didn’t show keen interest although they know for each
industry surely there are positive and negative facets and regulations definitely need to be
there? As from our experience with local government, it is because government did not see
their “enough profit” – tax from it. Why an industry even with yearly revenue of 0.3 billion or
more (2005 in Dafen Village, Shenzhen) can’t generate enough tax for government? As you
know, studios are mostly consisted of one or two masters and several apprentices,
producing and selling paintings to trading agents or foreign buyers directly, no tax involved,
then agents selling paintings to buyers overseas, lots of which are via air express service
since paintings are easier to go by rolling up or piling up, again, not so much tax to
confiscate. While, as Chinese governments of all levels, specially local governments focus
on local GDP, introduction of investment and tax revenue that can be helpful for their upper
level administration to judge their superficial politic achievement, who cares how many job
vacancies such industry is generating and will generate or be sustainable? Therefore, oil
painting industry still is like an adopted child, and can’t win the same support and attention
(such as official forums, researches, or debates) as the one for other traditional industries.
(Remember internet in China, Chinese government didn’t pay attention until one day new
types of violence was brought about via internet.)
Then it comes my final question, who or what are able to control the direction of navigation
of oil painting industry, without macro control from government over it? I think for the time
being, our conscience, integrity, fairness, perception, and responsibility to our end-
customers, can help lead the whole industry along a healthy way, when using our power of
purchasing, in other words. Each buyer is forming a small or big “government” with the
same nature of government if any. We are not gonna cheat our customers. Meanwhile, we
are protecting the best painters both domestic and abroad who have sharper eyes and
painting skills from being beaten down by those less skillful painters who print since most of
time inspection of paintings are via digital photos in which factor of resemblance still
accounts for 60%-70% in each painting inspection, no matter for portrait or impressionism
paintings, in short, fairness.
Let’s work together, and let’s educate painters together, making the painting business a
gold mine for more than 100 years, and more.
Written by
James Jianyin LIU
Sunshine Promising, Inc.
www.SunshinePromising.com
Your Best Arts Partner