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Art is widely regarded as one of the most significant assets， and over the last decade， Chinas art market has experienced tremendous growth. Last year， the country accounted for 24 percent of worldwide art trade.

To Wang Xijing， President of the Shaanxi Artists Association， constructing a credibilityrating system for Chinas art market is vital for its sustainable growth.

Credibility crisis

Chinas art market has undergone rapid development since the countrys reform and opening up started in the late 1970s， as art collecting and ownership have come back into prominence. According to the Art Market Monitor of Artron， an influential market-tracking firm based in Beijing， the total trade volume of Chinas art market in 2013 was worth 64.32 billion yuan（$10.21 billion）， increasing 16.46 percent over 2012.

This rapid-fire growth， however， has given rise to a number of problems， such as fake reproductions and unreasonably high prices. In Wangs view， the absence of an accreditation system has fueled these problems and will impede the further development of Chinas art market. “Credibility problems have existed during the entirety of the Chinese markets development，” he said.

Enhancing credibility and accountability in this area requires the concerted efforts of the government， artists and art dealers. According to Wang， Chinas art market has largely been developing without the governments involvement， and lacks proper regulation as a result.

As a member of the National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference， the countrys top political advisory body， Wang has put forward a proposal for establishing a credibility-rating system for the countrys art exchange. He believes that such a process is a vital step in breaking through the bottleneck holding back its growth.

“The credibility system will play a powerful role in strengthening Chinas art market， and cements the foundation for its orderly development，” Wang said. In his opinion， the system should feature a national database that registers information about artists， dealers and artwork prices.

According to a report on Chinas art market in 2013， released earlier this year by the China Art Financial Institute at Renmin University in Beijing， information asymmetry is a serious problem in todays domestic art market. Art pro-ducers and collection buyers have access to the most information regarding artworks and their origins， while intermediary agencies are largely left in the dark. This situation is detrimental to the healthy development of a credible market， where knock-offs of masterpieces and inflated price tags still slip through the cracks. A database could address this problem by facilitating information transparency and accessibility.endprint

“With further development of the market， credibility-based trading within Chinas art market will be more and more frequent， and will definitely become the norm，” Wang said.

Accreditation needed

Wang believes that with the governments involvement and promotion， building an accreditation system from the ground up will be more than feasible. He suggested the government quicken the pace of art industry-related legislation.

According to Wang， the objectives of the legislation can be achieved through two steps： amending existing art industry-related laws and regulations as preparation for making credibility data available to the public， then issuing new laws specifying how these data should be ac- cessed and used.

“The legislative work is crucial， because the collection and release of credibility data， the protection of privacy and punishment for violating the system all depend on a supportive and enforceable legal framework，” said Wang. “The country must create a thorough set of laws and regulations in order to build a healthy social credit system.”

Wang believes a centralized model should be adopted to manage Chinas art industry accreditation system. A national credibility data management center should be established as a platform through which to construct， operate and manage the national database of the credibility records of all companies and individuals engaged in the industry， while branch centers can contribute data to the national center， said Wang. He added that governmental departments in charge of art and culture should initially play a leading role in the new system， monitoring it for cases of fraud or discrepancy. Eventually， Wang hopes， it will be run in a way that generates its own economic sustainability.

Penalties must also be handed out to guarantee justice and equality within the art trade， said Wang. He believes that punishments should include blacklisting untrustworthy mar- ket players and revoking their business licenses for making them pay fines.

The government should give support to those with strong credibility records and impose restrictions on weak record-holders， with judicial punishments meted out for the violation of laws. The Internet can also be used to put unreliable market players under public scrutiny.

“Though a credibility-reporting service has been developing for only about a dozen years in China， in the West， it is a mature industry with a history of more than 100 years，” said Wang， adding that establishing such a system in the former should ideally combine international expertise with country-specific adjustments.

“Indeed， constructing a credit system for the development of Chinas art market is a tough and complicated task. It must include different measures to perform effectively across the board，” said Wang. “But Chinas accreditation industry has been growing along with the countrys market economic system. Therefore， China is capable of building an efficient art credibility system.”endprint