4 Art malls and popular collecting in post-socialist China I-Yi Hsieh Introduction As China progressively embraces a new identity of cheerleading for global- isation, Shanghai has been the vanguard in this rush toward international- isation. Amongst Chinese global cities, Shanghai is nonetheless distinctive in drawing its commercial culture embedded in its past of semi-colonialism (1843–1947) as the period was also notable for the import of Art Deco aesthetics and cosmopolitanism which remains visible in the former con- cession neighbourhoods today (Pan, 2008; Rrh & Johnston, 2006). This chapter addresses the contemporary art world in Shanghai that is once again enmeshed with the fnancial world, in which the city incubates new forms of art collecting against a backdrop of revived commercial culture. As an attempt to engage with the global wonder about the rise of Chinese collectors, I present an ethnographically informed discussion of two pri- vate art establishments—the Shanghai Himalaya Museum and the K11 Art Mall—as they speak to the rising private collecting in Shanghai alongside the market reform. Having originated in Hong Kong, K11 has expanded into Shanghai by setting up its signature mall that combines art exhibitions, shopping experiences and public access to the celebrity–artist culture. Now in partner- ship with MoMA PS1 in New York, and hosting an artist studio program in Wuhan, K11 has gradually developed itself into an international art institute that might have been inconceivable previously. Similar to K11, the Shanghai Himalaya Museum is situated within a shopping mall adjacent to a luxury hotel in suburban Shanghai. Together, the two unabashedly claim to integrate contemporary arts, from China and internationally, with fashion, blurring the boundary between art and consumerism. One can argue that such a new mode of artistic consumption is visible in other East Asian cities as well, such as the Mori Museum in Tokyo—which is part of a luxury shopping centre in one of the upscale neighbourhoods in the Japanese capital. In the following section, I analyse the two above-mentioned Shanghai art institutes as an example of the novel form of museum retail that resonates with a global trend of art institutes leaning toward the experience economy. In particular, I discuss how these new private museums in China today are supported by individual 9780367893392_pi-207.indd 51 9780367893392_pi-207.indd 51 10-Feb-21 23:59:07 10-Feb-21 23:59:07