White Cubes in China: A Sociological Study of China's Emerging Market for Contemporary Art

The Chinese contemporary art market is one of the world’s largest. Hundreds of art galleries, auction houses, artists, critics, and collectors engage in a flourishing art commerce in mainland China. Yet, as recently as the early 1990s, there were no intermediary organisations or stable market practices and conventions, nor were there shared understandings about how the art trade should unfold. In other words, there was no market for contemporary art. This dissertation addresses the question: how has the contemporary art market been emerging in China? Market emergence is a central concern of economic sociology. This study contributes to the understanding of this process by looking at the previously little-studied field of the contemporary art market in China.