In 1974, giant pandas Chia Chia and ChingChing, gifts from China to British Prime Minister Edward Heath when he visited there in 1973, arrived in London.
Mr. Ching said Sotheby's gallery will aim to educate Chinese buyers on Western art by first introducing them to Asian artists who already enjoy an international following, like Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, as well as 19th-century French painters such as Claude Monet, whose Impressionist landscapes are immediately recognizable to collectors everywhere, Mr. Ching said.