Chinanews, Shanghai, November 21 ¨C Nowadays, the works of modern Chinese artists have become more and more expensive.

A china lute is priced at 500,000 yuan, and an oil painting can be at hundreds of thousands of yuan. Though the standard of Chinese artists has not greatly improved, the price of their works has increased unreasonably.

The price hike started two year ago. Some critics describe Chinese artists as ¡°children with the income of adults¡±.

Art in China has finished the development in several years that took its Western counterparts nearly a century.

A mere ten years ago, there were hardly any collectors interested in modern artworks produced in China, but their overheated popularity today has also caused great panic among Chinese artists, as it is beyond their ability to control the situation.

¡°Though our paintings are more profitable today, a large proportion of art-lovers can no longer afford them. Art today has become a symbol of vainglory,¡± said Mr. Fang, the director of a prestigious art gallery in Shanghai.