“Globally, the recent rise in Chinese artists’ fortunes was unparalleled… by 2007, 5 of the 10 best-selling living artists at auction were Chinese-born, led by Zhang Xiaogang, who trailed only Gerhard Richter and Damien Hirst.” But with the world financial crisis having wiped out many a fortune, “galleries are laying off staff members, and the collectors who patronized them now worry that their art investments may prove a colossal folly.”