Recap: China's art scene - Yazzy's at www.williamverdult.com

SHANGHAI - Like everything else in China these days, the contemporary art market is red hot and everyone wants a piece of it.

So when a small group of people arrive at her airy gallery in trendy Moganshan Lu, co-director Elisabeth de Brabant breaks off an interview to show them around.

The men and women look and dress like American tourists. They probably are American tourists. They are also prospective buyers and de Brabant equips them with an overview of the latest on the Chinese arts scene and a bag full of catalogues featuring young hopefuls from the Art Scene Warehouse stable.

International buyers account for about 90 per cent of the current interest and investment in mainland Chinese art, creating a market that, according to the official Xinhua news agency, the cultural ministry estimates is worth about $36 billion a year, when everything from ceramics to modern pop art is taken into account.

Some buyers are outrageously savvy like Britain's star-making machine - collector and gallery owner Charles Saatchi. Others are just exuberant amateurs, hoping perhaps to discover a new Damien Hirst and buy up his entire inventory before anyone else hears about him.

At the very top end of China's contemporary art market, in what is considered nose-bleed territory for living artists, is figurative painter Liu Xiaodong, who came up through Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, one of the three major arts schools in the country. Last November, Liu sold a painting for $2.75 million.

But there are hundreds and hundreds of other young Chinese artists who are winning prizes and snagging shows at home, in Europe and in North America. In short, they are doing everything possible to grab the attention of collectors looking for "the next new thing."

"The Chinese contemporary arts scene is very young," de Brabant explains. Galleries scout the countryside looking for artists. "We're talking to artists, asking about their friends, talking to profs."