Such a strong demand from the Chinese market could hardly be met by the limited output of Russian artists. As a result, reproduction workshops flourished and the shanzhai products have come into vogue with common art lovers put off by the high costs of original works. Most of the reproduction shops are located in Shenzhen and Shanghai. In Dafen Village, Shenzhen, there are over 1,000 oil workshops with nearly 10,000 painters. They claim, without exception, that they can duplicate high quality Russian oils.

Before she returned home, Qin Siying purchased a number of works by Russian art professors and students at her school. According to her, the oil painting market in Russia is lackluster. A 100 cm by 80 cm piece, if painted by a professor, could fetch something between RMB 20,000 and 30,000, or between RMB 30,000 and 50,000 for a renowned artist. But a painting done by a student might only bring in RMB 2,000. So Russian artists are ecstatic when they see the lavish Chinese patrons spending big money for even smaller paintings or drawings. Yury Kalyuta, a noted artist in St. Petersburg, often exhibits his paintings in China. Some of his best pieces have sold in the range of RMB 200,000 to 300,000.

Catering to the Clients

The sales of Russian oils have been brisk in China, thanks to the communication and cultural exchanges that have entwined these two peoples living either side of a border. But deeper roots for such an infatuation might be the comradeship developed between the two countries during Cold War years; after 1949, Russia replaced France as the preferred overseas destination for students of oil painting.

Affected by the shift, a higher value was placed on art coming from Russia, and this was the case for Surikov Vasili Ivanovich and Ilya Yafimovich Repin. Increasingly Russian painters of today come to China to hold exhibitions, search out buyers for their works or simply to expand their reputation. Some Russian painters, in order to pander to local tastes, tend to paint in the mode of Chinese landscapes, and some even emulate the work of Chinese artist Wu Guanzhong, utilizing white and black oil colors to imitate the effects of Chinese ink and wash painting.

In recent years, many Russian painters have begun to rub shoulders with their Chinese counterparts. They often find themselves sketching together or holding joint exhibitions. As Qin Siying remarked, “Vassilievich, honored as a ‘meritorious artist’ by former Russian president Boris Yeltsin, and his son Zhenya are among the most popular painters in China.” The paintings of Vassilievich sell in the range of RMB 50,000 to 80,000 while the works of his son go for around RMB 10,000 to 30,000. Zhenya, associate professor at the Amurskaya University, is regularly invited by Chinese universities to teach oil painting. He has a thorough knowledge of China, and is known as an old China hand.