Zeng Fanzhi   Provided to China Daily

Chu The-chun ranked No 2 on the list with $47 million in sales from 79 art pieces. The 94-year-old artist passed away on Wednesday in Paris.

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Zhou Chunya, 59, followed with sales of $37 million. He has seen the value of his work at auction this year fall by half, but he has still managed to make the top three.

"As more wealth is created in China, there is a natural propensity to look beyond another stock, another commercial building," says Hurun Report chairman and chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf.

"The purpose of the list is to provide an objective benchmark of Chinese artists, with a view to encourage wealthy Chinese to engage with the art world."

Artron chairman Wan Jie says: "There is a strong enthusiasm among rich Chinese to collect, but they often don't know where to start. This is where the Hurun Art List comes in."

The United States overtook Europe as the residence of choice for artists living abroad. Beijing is the undisputed capital for Chinese artists, however, followed by Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces.

Chinese ink painters dominate with 60 percent of the artists listed. But six of the top 10 are oil painters. The 31 new entrants on this year's list were led by oil painters Huang Jiannan and Ji Zhongliang.

The average age of artists on the list is 64, two years younger than last year. Among them, Zhou Song, 32, is the first artist born in the 1980s to make the Hurun Art List.