I started collecting artworks in 1993
There are about four hundred oil paintings in my collection
The earliest one was Guiseppe Castiglione's work During Qianlong's reign
The end of the Qing Dynasty
The Republican Era
The War of Resistance
Reforming and opening up
To contemporary art
Across three centuries
New Wave of Chinese Collection | Liu Gang
I graduated from the Law School of Peking University in 1983
Then became a capital market lawyer
In 2000
I came up with the VIE structure, popular in the investment industry
Later, Sina, Netease, Sohu
Went abroad for IPOs and listings successively
Some therefore calls me the "Godfather of Internet"
But all my achievements as a lawyer
Doesn't compare to my collection
I live in a three-storey house
Total floor area about 680 square meters
Above the fireplace in the main living room
Hangs "A Fishing Harbour", a later painting of Wu Guanzhong
I bought it from GUARDIAN AUCTIONS in 2003
It only cost over a million
More than one auction houses approached me
Asking if I'm willing to put it on auction
I said no thanks
On the left is a work of Lin Fengmian from the 50s
This is a renowned work of Zhao Bandi
And it's the most expensive one of my collection
The total price is over 27 million yuan
In order to pay for it
I sold more than 20 works
The garage has a high-rise ceiling
So I sealed the gate
And present a 2.5*2.5m work in it
It was painted by a royal painter in the reign of Qianlong
Depicting a garden in the old Summer Palace
It was drawn in perspective
But meanwhile incorporated the Chinese painting style
The basement is about 230 square meters
It's a private gallery, not open to the public
I see them day and night
Spend a lot of time with them
Listening to music
While wandering among art
There are only three known paintings of Qianlong's concubine
By Guiseppe Castiglione
One is in the Palace Museum in Beijing
The other one in the Palace Museum in Taipei
And still another one is mine
It qualifies as one of the earliest Chinese oil paintings
Painted on Korean paper
She was wearing Islam jewelry
I suppose this is a portrait of Rong Concubine
This work of Wu Zuoren is "Chongqing Bombing"
Madame Chiang visited the US in 1942
China Artists Association held an exhibition specifically for her
At MoMA
The theme was "China Under the War of Resistance"
And this is a major work in that exhibition
When the exhibition was over
The works were auctioned
And fond raised through the auction
Was spent on buying supplies that were later shipped to China
"Catching the Train"
Is a representative work of Chinese scar art
There are about one hundred figures in it
Intellectuals, migrant workers, soldiers
I've been through the time
The overall atmosphere was dull
On an GUARDIAN auction in 2003
Me and another collector
Raised the price from one million
To 2.6 million
Some'd say
"You can totally buy a nice courtyard dwelling in the Second Ring Road with that money"
But to me
Art is unique
It's once in a life time chance
In 1989 I went to study in the UK for a year
The main partner at our law firm
Invited me to spend the Spring Festival with his family
His house is an old castle
Walls full of paintings
Aroused my interest for art
When it became legal to open private law firms in China in 1992
I was one of the first lawyers to participate in this
At our first distribution of bonuses
I drunk a lot
With my 100 grands
In my bicycle basket
Passing by a gallery
Without hesitation
I bought the first art piece in my life with 3 grands
And I've kept it till today
Between 1998 and 2006
Auction was my main battlefield to buy art
And it wasn't as expensive as it has become of today
I have this idea in my mind
Using Chinese history as a clue
I want to have a systematic collection
Over the past three centuries
Every historical stage has its own classic works
I am good at controlling myself
I do what I should do at the time
And I have a young mindset
Now that I've retired from work
Lucky enough I have this hobby
If not for my collector side
The younger generation probably wouldn't care about me
My wife likes art too
We have similar taste and interest
The biggest regret of life
Is the fleeting nature of it
But art extends your life to the past centuries