Market in antiques booms in Shanghai

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Market in antiques booms in Shanghai

By ZHANG KUN in Shanghai (China Daily) 09:11, October 02, 2013

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Hu Ping sits in Modern Shanghai, his furniture and home decor store. He and his wife opened the store to cater to China's growing interest in antiques. Below: Antique furniture is displayed at Modern Shanghai.[photos by Gao Erqiang]

The shop assistant served cold drinks to the visitors at Modern Shanghai, a furniture and home decor store in downtown Shanghai.

The drinks are just ordinary canned coffee, but the refrigerator that keeps them cool is unique. It's 80 years old and runs perfectly.

These types of antique, Western-style wares and furnishings are gaining popularity in Shanghai as well as in other parts of China.

Professional dealers have been visiting European antique markets and bringing their carefully selected finds to China for the past five years.

Shanghai, one of the first Chinese cities to open to foreign trade in the 1800s, has a unique past in the antique market. It also has a dedicated group of lovers of the old pieces as well as the histories behind them.

"I've been very interested in art deco," said Shen Jialu, a columnist and journalist in Shanghai. It is a visual art style popular in the first few decades of the 20th century that featured bold geometric shapes with smooth, straight lines in architecture and design. "Many of the old furniture pieces from Shanghai are typical of the style."

Shen is known among Shanghai's antique lovers for his sharp eye and refined taste. Modern Shanghai is one of the shops that he frequents for old furniture.

Rare treasures

The shop sits at the crossing between Wukang Road and Hunan Road. More than half a century ago, this was part of the French concession. Lots of old buildings featuring English, Spanish and other Western styles still stand there in the shade of sycamore and camphor trees.

The owner of Modern Shanghai is Hu Ping, 41, whose "real job" is in finance and securities. "We deal with antique, or used, furniture and home appliances from Shanghai in the early 20th century," Hu told China Daily, sitting on an 80-year-old sofa wrapped in new leather. His shop is filled with old couches, closets, wardrobes, record players, furnaces and so on. "They are relics of a different age and lifestyle more refined and classy."

A woman came in the store to ask about a sofa in crimson velvet and complained that the price of more than 15,000 yuan ($2,450) was "too high". She said that in Europe, where she was from, "anything from less than 100 years ago is not antique, but only used goods".

Whether they are antique or used, Hu believes these old pieces are rare treasures from the past. Shanghai's Western-style old furniture pieces have distinctive qualities, he said.

They were either brought back by people who traveled or studied abroad or tailor-made in Shanghai in the art deco-style from fine wood for Chinese households.

"Chinese people lived in smaller houses than Westerners, and they had smaller pieces made, and we always favored fine wood, such as various kinds of red woods."

Xia Fei Ge, a shop at 1808 Huaihai Road M, showcases a complete set of 17 pieces of fine furniture in red wood, including a bed, armchairs, and coffee and dressing tables.

Lined with camphor wood inside, the wardrobe emits a fragrant smell when opened.

"I bought them from an elderly lady in the Shan Nan Cun community," said Wang Wenjuan, who has been in the antique business for more than 20 years. The whole set is for sale for 800,000 yuan, she said, though she declined to reveal the price she paid for them six years ago.

Xia Fei Ge is a new shop and a joint initiative of Wang and Pan Li, a musical actress who married an estate developer.

Pan and her husband became interested in antique furniture only two years ago. "He was really passionate about it and bought one piece after another," Pan said about her husband. Gradually, the couple began collecting antique pieces for their home.

"I would sit in a corner and turn on a small light, feeling as if I was in a different time," she said. "I can't help but wonder about the person who sat on these chairs before me, and how the craftsmen put their hearts into the work."

Soon her house was packed with old furniture, and the less-favored pieces were stored in a warehouse.

"Then we decided to open the shop and share the beauty with more people."

"One or two pieces of old furniture at home can change the atmosphere. It's like bringing a page of history into your life," Pan said. "It enriches your life and brings great enjoyment."

Preserving history

Expensive as these antiques are, Hu believes the money is by no means wasted. "In a few years if you need cash, you can easily sell it again for a much higher price. It's a good investment," he said. "Time has passed, and there can only be fewer of these pieces showing up on the market. The surviving items will only be more and more precious."

About 10 years ago, he bought an apartment in an old building and was determined to restore as much of its original beauty as possible. It was his first step into the world of Shanghai's antique market.

"I started by searching for a fireplace mantel," Hu said.

Shanghai tore down lots of old buildings in the 1990s, especially during the construction of Yan'an Road, an elevated highway that became a lifeline for city traffic.

"You could buy a mantel in very good condition for no more than 2,000 yuan at that time," he recalled. As urban development pushed on, people became more interested in preserving the city's history. Regulations were issued protecting many antique buildings from destruction and vandalism.

Recyclers travel on tricycles through residential communities, ringing a bell now and then. When they find valuable pieces priced higher than they can afford, they inform antique dealers like Hu. "We pay them 10 percent of the price for commission," he said.

Antique furniture is often covered in dirt and grease when it reaches dealers like Hu. "We'll wipe them with a soapy cloth and then set them aside for a few days to dry." Then they will wax a piece repeatedly, until the original luster of the wood reappears. Sometimes they take apart the tables and chairs to perform a deeper clean so when the pieces are reassembled, they will hold together for a long time.

Like professional antique restorers, these guys do their own research to find the right cleaners that won't damage a piece.But rather than tell the public, they keep the secrets of the trade to themselves.