As China booms, Beijing's real estate market has followed and high-end real estate development projects are emerging. Imperial Axis is a luxury project planned for the downtown area. Billed as a "royal dwelling place of the world," is located opposite the Bell and Drum Tower and overlooks the Jing Mountain. It is said to offer 360-degree views of the surrounding area. There will be just 30 units with top-level appliances and finishes. Not too much is known about the property but the units may command some of the top prices in Beijing and are designed to appeal to an international clientele.

Shanghai's Bund, which runs along the river and divides the city's former international section (with its old world architecture) from Pudong, with its intergalactic hyper-futuristic architecture, isn't a place for subtlety. This divide makes it a place for big statements, particularly of the fashionable variety, which is why this is where you find the city's big name restaurants (Jean Georges, M on the Bund), major international designers and so on. And it made it an entirely logical neighborhood for Chinese restaurateurs South Beauty Group to select for the Shanghai edition of the LAN Club, following on the 2006 success of its Beijing launch, which was designed by Phillipe Starck.

LAN Shanghai, designed by Patrick Gilles and Dorothee Boissier. opened in a historic building just off the Bund last summer, and it's not about subtlety, no, not even a little bit. Its four floors that put me in mind of the clubs that I used to encounter as a teenager in 1980s New York: an adult version of a theme park. There's a dance club, and several bars, and each floor is home to a different restaurants or, if you will, dining concepts, and they've changed a bit since opening. What was once a Chinese restaurant on the first floor has become O-Supper Club, which is doing a Chinese/Tapas fusion. (This sounds more interesting than it tastes); the French restaurant on the fourth floor had a new name, Papillion, named for the 400 butterfly specimens displayed on its walls. And that's not to forget a seafood restaurant, adorned with an aquarium of living jelly fish, an atrium-like space with a wall of plants, and a full floor of VIP private dining rooms, because in a crowded country, it's luxurious to go to a restaurant to be seen and then have total privacy.

One of these rooms, the Art and Banquet Hall, is meant to accommodate a group, and it is genuinely, no-gimmicks impressive: it was designed around the Liu Ziaodong painting, Migrants of the Three Gorges. It's some 30 feet in width, and was, for a time, the most costly work by a contemporary Chinese artist sold at auction. But favorite space was "La Terrace", the lounge on the roof, which opened this past July. It's view of Pudong and the Bund isn't unobstructed, but I rather liked the Shanghai peep show effect, which was enhanced by the pimp-my-ride lit tables.

You know it's rough out there when Sotheby's makes you pay for coffee. At its five-day Hong Kong auction, the house was able to move only $89 million in antiques (HK$691 million), paintings and gems – less than half the take for the same event in 2008. With bidders forced to HK$20 (which looks more menacing than the U.S. equivalent, $2.50), one can only hope that Sotheby's was able to make up the difference.

This is a far cry from the $227 million that sold a year ago.

Sensitive to the global financial crisis, Sotheby's planned ahead, offering fewer expensive lots, which tend to get a bit more bidder action when financial markets are struggling. A larger number of wine lots showed up, as the liquid flows more easily than canvas. All of the bottles moved at the first Sotheby's Hong Kong wine auction.

Despite the downturn in art prices, some feel that now is a good time to invest in the oldest of old media. Ian Kai, an art dealer based in Beijing, remarked for Bloomberg, "Governments are printing so much money now. Fine artworks might be a better way to store value than currency."

The highest-priced piece at the auction was "Fishing Harvest" by Lin Fengmian, which fetched a hair over $2 million. Most paintings sold for prices well below those of comparable works at last year's auctions. Heading into the Hong Kong auction, Sotheby's cut presale estimates by an average of 20 percent and expanded its offering to include video installations and other non-painting works.

And that could be the enduring benefit of this marketplace.

"We are now seeing conceptual art at Hong Kong auctions, which is fantastic," said Sandra Walters, a Hong Kong-based collector who runs a namesake art-consulting company.

A broader perspective will lead to future returns for artists, collectors and auction houses.

The Carousel Volant by Blancpain has become the first wristwatch displayed in the Forbidden City. The timepiece was first displayed in the Palace Museum in Beijing's Forbidden City during a unique donation ceremony. The Palace Museum has a Watch and Clock Hall that has a collection of over 1,000 mechanical timepieces from the 18th and 19th Century but this is the first modern timepiece in the collection.

The watch which is called the Blancpain Qiankun Carousel, is done in 18K gold and the half-worked opaline dial shows the Yin and Yang symbol.The 43.5 mm case has a special design on the back with the words "The Palace Museum" and "Piece Unique." Under the sapphire crystal you can see the oscillating weight which was specifically designed for this piece. The Carousel is similar to a tourbillon and completes a full rotation in 60 seconds. Close up pics of the watch front and back showing the intricate detail are in the gallery below.

On November 13, Versace will present its Spring/Summer 2009 collections at Beijing's Legation Center, a newly developed luxe corner of the city and the location for the venerable design house's first show in China. The event will benefit the Jet Li One Foundation, which in coordination with the Red Cross focuses on earthquake relief efforts for children in the Sichuan province.

Donatella, at right, the brand's Chief Designer, will be on hand to celebrate the event.

[via Vogue UK]

The Olympics is always a big deal and this year the event seems more spectacular than ever, and as always there is no shortage of Olympic-themed goodies and gadgets. One group of such gadgets would be these limited edition USB flash drives created by the Chinese company Lenovo. Ranging in price from $199-$980 there's one set that's made of some of the same material as the Olympic torch, one set shaped like medallions on a chain, one set that features a Chinese mascot, and one sleek silver set that comes in a special mahogany box. And of course all the sets also feature the official logo of the Beijing Olympics.

If you're interested in getting one of these themed drives you better hurry because they're selling out quick -- the "medallion" ones are already gone.

Swiss watchmaker Omega is the official timekeeper of the Olympics and they have created the Omega Pavilion on the Olympic Green in Beijing for the Olympics. The Pavillion is 2,500 square meters (nearly 27,000 square feet) over two floors and includes a large exhibition area, boutique and a stage for special events. The opening ceremony for the pavilion on April 4 was attended by several hundred members of the international press and other invited guests and four Omega brand ambassadors, Olympic multiple gold medallists Ian Thorpe and Alexander Popov, speedskater Yang Yang, the first Chinese athlete to win a gold medal at a Winter Olympic Games and shooter Xu Mai Feng who was the first Chinese gold medallist at a Summer Olympic Games.

Omega has 450 professional timekeepers and data handlers in Beijing to time all 302 events in 28 sports at 37 different venues. The Swiss brand's 420 tons of equipment include the many scoreboards and display units used at the Olympic Games.Omega first served as Official Olympic Timekeeper at the Los Angeles 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Omega has created limited edition Olympic versions of some of their most popular watch styles such as the DeVille, some of the collection is shown in the gallery below.

To celebrate the 2008 Summer Olympics, Swiss watch manufacturer Ernst Benz has created the Beijing 2008 Limited Edition ChronoScope. The watches are the first in a new series that will be released biannually to celebrate the great cities of the world.The 47mm watch has been done in two different dial executions, Noir (Black) and Vermilion (China Red) with both versions limited to only 88 pieces hand-finished in brushed stainless steel. Also an even more limited version of only eight pieces per dial which be available in Black PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) coated brushed steel. The dials feature a Traditional Chinese pattern for fire as well as incorporate Traditional Chinese characters for the numerals; with the 8th hour marker done in a contrasting color. The watch comes in Chinese-themed packaging and wiill be available with the choice of either hand-stitched alligator straps: black with red stitching or red with black stitching. The stainless steel version will retail for $5,800 while the Black PVD coated brushed stainless steel version will retail for $6,800.

Ralph Lauren's 2008 Olympics Collection from his Polo line, to be worn by American athletes at the summer games in Beijing next month, is now available in stores. Lauren designed the official Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony parade outfits as well as an assortment of Olympic "village wear" pieces for the U.S. Teams, which anyone may now purchase. The Summer Olympics in Beijing run from Aug. 8 - 24th. Lauren's patriotic, logo-festooned red, white and blue designs are "inspired by the rich past of the Olympic Games and in keeping with the time-honored tradition of this historic event." Visit Lauren's site here for more and check out the gallery to see athletes modeling the collection.

While workers put the finishing touches on buildings for the Olympics, Beijing hotels are dropping prices hoping to fill empty rooms for the celebration. Many hotels had raised rates hoping for a huge tourism leap before the Games, which start on August 8. The AFP reports that three- and four-star hotels are cutting prices by 20 percent or more. Five star hotels seem to be faring best, earlier this month the Beijing municipal tourism bureau said that they were 70 percent booked while four-star hotels bookings during the Olympics stood at 44 percent and rates for three-star hotels were even lower.

The latest product to tie in to the Beijing Olympics coming up this august is the Voila Beijing Dream. The elaborated cage like design of the watch mimics the National Stadium (also called the Birds Nest) that will hold the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics. The watch is available with a stainless steel or gold plated case with a strap of Chinese silk brocade. It comes set with .23 carats of diamonds or .72 carats and prices range from 1,490 to 2,190 euros.

[via Watch of the Week]

I remember back in 1980, my mother got a Misha bear, the mascot of the Moscow Olympics. Fast forward to this year's Olympics in Beijing and a new more expensive and more fabulous bear, the Gucci leather panda which sells for $1,050. The bear is part of the Gucci 8-8-2008 Limited Edition designed by Gucci creative director Frida Giannini. The collection of eight pieces, of course, includes the new $1,415 I-Gucci watch, the company's first digital watch, which is already on their website. Other special Gucci Limited Edition items include a $3,420 bicycle, a $3,150 Mahjong set covered in red La Pelle Guccissima leather, a pair of $660 men's and women's sports shoes, a $445 sterling silver and enamel necklace inspired by military tags, and two pieces of luggage in La Pelle Guccissima, a leather duffle for $2,795 and a $995 leather messenger bag.

Those at China's Olympics can keep in touch with a gold phone. Samsung will make a special 18-carat gold-plated mobile phone in China to celebrate the Olympics in Beijing. The P318 phone will be black with gold trim and gold along the bottom half of its back. The phone will only be sold in China and no launch date has been set yet.

It seems that we may have finally hit the price ceiling for expensive hotel suites. The highest priced hotel suite in Asia can be found at the Pingxi Royal Mansion just outside Beijing was advertised at 220,000 yuan ($28,100), which makes it even more expensive than the Bridge Suite at the Atlantis. Recently, though, the hotel dropped its price by 20% per night ($22,485) because of a lack of customers.

On second thought, we're not too worried about the possibility that this could indicate a drop in the demand for luxe suites, though. More likely than not, this is just a case of overpricing in the first place.

A portrait of Mao Zedong is being offered at a June 3rd auction in Beijing. It was painted in the 1950s by portraitist Zhang Zhenshi and posters of it were circulated throughout the country. Zhenshi was one of the first artists to do a portrait of Mao and this painting is said to be one of his only surviving works. Since the announcement of the auction, the inclusion of the portrait has met with some opposition, with critics citing that its historical value is too great for it to be sold. It is currently owned by a Chinese American and is expected to sell for $120,000-150,000, as other Mao memorabilia has done well at auctions recently.

[Image ChinaDaily]