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Until recently still a blank spot on the world map of art, China today occupies one of the top positions in the rankings of the global art market and has moved into the center of the speculations and the covetousness of its protagonists. But what is really happening on the spot, beyond the ethnocentric distortions of the Western viewpoint? What social representations and uses of art can be identified?
A research team from the University of St. Gallen has taken up such questions in an ethnographical field research project which enables the actors in this emergent and nonetheless already market-dominated art field to have their say.

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"Dank der ausführlichen Interviews ermöglicht das Buch lesenswerte Einblicke in die Situation der Kunstszenen und -märkte von Hongkong und Shanghai im Jahr 2014. Gleichzeitig bietet das Buch den in den Sozialwissenschaften seltenen Fall einer Argumentation, bei der das von den Autoren präsentierte Evidenzmaterial die eigene These widerlegt. Michael Hutter, www.sehepunkte.de, 18/2 (2018) "Das Verdienst der St. Galler Studie ist es, [...] Eindrücke mithilfe von Leitfragen zum kulturellen und ökonomischen Globalisierungsprozess zu kontextualisieren und zu interpretieren." Barbara Basting, WOZ, 22.12.2016

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Franz Schultheis is professor of Sociology at Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen, after having previously taught at the Universities of St. Gallen, Geneva, Neuchâtel and Paris V. Sorbonne. He made his PhD at University of Konstanz and his habilitation with Pierre Bourdieu at the EHESS in Paris. His current research focuses on sociology of art and creative work. He is a member of the Swiss Science Council, President of the Pierre Bourdieu Foundation and a member of the editorial board of ¯Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales®. Dieter Thomä, born 1959, is professor of Philosophy at the University of St. Gallen and fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Erwin Single studied sociology, communication sciences and journalism and works as a freelance journalist in Berlin. Raphaela Köfeler studied International Affairs at the University of St. Gallen. Thomas Mazzurana studied Business informatics and Sociology. He is a research associate at the Institute of Sociology at the University of St. Gallen.

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