Record prices expected as Chinese snap up Asian art at Christie's auction

From delicate 12th-century landscape paintings, to bold contemporary works such as Liu Xiaodong's huge canvas of the Three Gorges Dam, Chinese art has never been more popular, and affluent Chinese are joining international collectors in snapping up pieces.

Ancient porcelain and contemporary art are being bought both as a status symbol and a canny investment by Chinese made wealthy by a thriving economy.

Next week, the auction house Christie's will sell works from Asia, and it is confident that significant early interest will help it break its £80m record set at May's spring auctions.

The house's autumn sales season starts tomorrow in Hong Kong. It will be Asia's largest ever and includes around 2,500 paintings, luxury watches, jewellery and ceramics, most of them from the region.

This week, Liu Xiaodong's powerful 9.8ft by 32.8ft painting of the Three Gorges Dam, Newly Displaced Population, sold for a record £1.45m at an auction in Beijing.