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The King Of Arts

Qiao Zhibing first raised eyebrows by decorating his KTV lounge with high-brow art. Now, China's 'Karaoke King' is turning part of Shanghai's waterfront into a mega museum of contemporary art. Geoffrey Eu talks to the otherwise low-key art lover.

It sounds almost absurd, but a pressing need to decorate a Shanghai nightclub in 2006 was the catalyst for its owner Qiao Zhibing to start buying contemporary art and in less than 10 years, become a leading collector in China. Mr Qiao, a former sound engineer, musician and DJ, turned Shanghai Night into a karaoke club with a difference - and discovered his true calling in the process. He has an all-consuming passion for art, and the means to keep on buying it.

Anyone who visits a high-end KTV joint might reasonably expect it to be a less-than-subtle repository for chandeliers, neo-Greco columns, life-size horse statues and paintings of exotic birds. At Shanghai Night in the city's southwest, what...

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