An 18th Century Chinese vase is bought by a Chinese buyer at a small suburban auction house in London for £43m ($66m), more than £53m after fees and commission.

The sale price is 40 times the pre-sale estimate.

In Hong Kong a local buyer pays nearly $17m dollars for a pair of 5ft-high enamel cranes - believed to be a gift from an 18th Century Chinese emperor to his son.

Another Hong Kong-based collector pays $32m for an 18th Century Chinese floral vase.

This year, the hugely inflated sums of money being paid for Chinese art and artefacts have been making headlines regularly.

But what has been pushing prices so high?

Trade insiders say the recovery from the world economic crisis brought an influx of new, wealthy bidders into the auction houses....