BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- The Chinese art collection market has become the third most popular investment target following stock and real estate, said experts in the field here Tuesday.

    Official statistics show that China has altogether more than 100 million individual collectors. In 2004, the estimated volume of business was no less than 10 billion yuan (around 1.2 billion US dollars).

    Ma Guangqi, general-manager of a local collection company in Beijing, said art collection in the past represented one person's social position and refined taste.

    Today, art has become a target of investment.

    However, he pointed out that art collectors may encounter traps and fake goods. People with interest and money but lacking professional evaluation skills are at risk of being scammed.

    He explained that art collection involves many challenges, such as how to keep and raise the value of a collection.

    Autumn auctions hosted by several local companies will all have blockbuster masterpieces.

    Among the nearly 1,000 items in the Huachen Auction, a hanging landscape roll by Chen Hongshou, from ancient China's Ming dynasty(1368-1644), has already attracted great attention from domestic and overseas collectors. The painting masterpieces by Lin Fengmian, Huang Zhou, Wu Guanzhong, Qi Baishi of Poly Auction are predicted to sell at high prices.

    Maestro Li Keran's landscape, produced in 1987, is still awaiting a good price, insiders with the Chengxuan Auction said, hinting that the Chinese traditional paintings and calligraphy have become more and more popular among international collectors.

    On the item list of Chengxuan Auction, the "Old Cypress" painted by Xu Beihong in 1932 has been valued at 600,000 to 800,000 yuan (around 73,000 to 97,000 US dollars) so far. Enditem