The 2008 global financial crisis caused a precipitous drop in the multi-million dollar auction prices that modern Chinese art was fetching. This has led some Chinese artists back to their roots, a highly experimental approach with new media that was born in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Become familiar with those artists who bucked the trend, even in the height of the boom. A retrospective of works and brief introductions to 19 Chinese artists working in performance and conceptual art, film and video, installation, sound art, and digital art. This is a select group that has created the landscape of contemporary Chinese art and are dictating its future. AUTHOR: Xhingyu Chen is an arts specialists and a cultural guide based in Shanghai, China. SELLING POINTS: -Ground breaking approaches to exhibiting art in China -Biographies of 19 key influences in China's contemporary art world -Chinese artists returning to the media and practices of the pre-Chinese art market boom 194 colour photographs *.