This month: Has Chinese art sold its soul?

This month will see another auction of Chinese contemporary art that is likely to break all previous records, and another international mega gallery open in the art district of Dashanzi. The art market has never been hotter, with ever increasing prices for works, more sales and a growing number of high and low quality fakes hitting the market. But while the big money artists and auction houses rub their hands together with glee at another year of bumper sales, things haven't been so good for smaller artists - last month, several independent galleries and theatres in Dashanzi were demolished to make way for a multi-storey car park. In this month's issue, we ask if Chinese art has sold its soul.

We take artist Sheng Qi to assess the people who fake the modern masters, and commission one forger to see how they do it. And in a rare interview, we ask China's most exciting artist Liu Xiaodong, who is likely to sell his Battlefield Realism series for over seven million dollars this month, if his paintings are really worth it. We also celebrate the return of Affordable Art Beijing, where we bring art back to the people with hundreds of works sold for affordable prices over the three-day event.

Tom Pattinson Editor