Out with fakes

With more Chinese taking to collecting antiques, and official relics experts serving mainly museums, television is stepping in to fill the gap. Zhang Zixuan reports

The host's hammer comes down on a 150-year-old coral-red glazed chrysanthemum-petal dish, smashing it to pieces. Li Yufei, who has brought the dish to the TV show, lets out a sharp cry and raises her hand to her mouth. The dish is a fake.

This a scene from Tian Xia Shou Cang (world collection), a popular program on Beijing TV, which brings in experts to assess antiques in the hands of collectors around the country. In the spirit of a popular Chinese saying, "Eliminate the false and retain the true", the show's host destroys the ones judged to be fake, while giving a reference price and certificate to the genuine antiques.