It's called sabotage ...

 It appears the identity of the anonymous bidder who purchased the controversial bronze animal heads in the Yves Saint Laurent auction I wrote about over the weekend has already been revealed. According to a Xinhua report, he is Cai Mingzhao, "collection advisor" to the National Treasure Fund of China. The fact that the buyer is Chinese and has ties to the National Treasure Fund is no big surprise, as few other people would care enough to bid on the items. But there's a kicker: He doesn't intend to pony up the cash.

"What I want to stress is that this money cannot be paid," Xinhua quotes Cai as saying at a press conference in Beijing this morning. "Every Chinese would have liked to do like this at that moment, and I'm honored to have the chance to make the bid."

In other words, this was not buyer's remorse, but a deliberate act of sabotage.

According to Xinhua, Cai registered for the auction at the last minute — something he was able to do only because he had a good reputation in art dealing circles. So why would he sacrifice that reputation? 

One hint comes from Wang Qing, a spokesman for the group of Chinese lawyers involved in an earlier lawsuit against the sale of the heads, who thanked Cai for giving the lawyers time to file new legal challenges.

Cai said at the press conference that he made the fake bid "on behalf of all Chinese people." The question, though, is whether all Chinese people will appreciate the gesture. It seems safe to say now that Cai's reputation is ruined. To the extent the news media take him at his word and portray him as a representative of China, so too will the country's reputation suffer.

(Pictured above: One of the four bronze animal heads, out of set of 12, recovered by the Poly Art Museum in Beijing, photo by yours truly.)

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/china-and-its-neighbors/090302/its-called-sabotage