Vancouver: Auction House

Kou Dept: Beijing-based China Guardian Auctions Co. Limited, the world's fourth-largest auction house, opened its office in January in Vancouver, the first of its kind in Canada, according to Vancouver Sun. "We look at Vancouver as market filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons," Kou said, noting the regions large Chinese immigrant population may have brought Chinese art collections with them to Canada and one of the top art auction houses in China has set up shop in Vancouver, an attempt to explore the emerging local market - and providing yet another sign of the city's increasing visibility to Chinese businesses. This is not China Guardian's first venture in to Metro Vancouver; last year, it held its first Canadian artwork consignment event in Richmond. Director and vice-president Kou Qin said the event resulted in Guardian accepting 50 mil-lion Chinese yuan $7.9 million Cdn in artwork for auction. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.