Storm over a tea cup

'Chicken cup' sip has netizens on boil

Chenghua 'chicken cup' expected to fetch record price

Liu Yiqian, a Shanghai millionaire and buyer of the tea cup as well as Gongfu Tie, said he was not laundering money and described the article as "mongering rumors and mudslinging".

Liu issued a statement on July 29 through social media application WeChat. Liu said he had entrusted an attorney in Shanghai and reserves his right to file a lawsuit against Jiang.

In a statement to China Daily on Aug 4, Sotheby's said the article by Jiang involved three auctioned pieces sold at Sotheby's, and the content of Jiang's article was "inconsistent with the facts and misleading".

Sotheby's said it reserves the right to seek compensation from the author of the article and other persons involved for damage caused to the auction house.

Jiang denied accusing anyone of "actual money laundering".

Jiang says he was simply analyzing how the sale of works at astronomical figures such as the "chicken cup" might impact society, and the cases and numbers quoted in the article were all from media reports, according to a report by the China National Radio.

The "chicken cup" collected by Liu has been stored at the bonded warehouse in Shanghai's Xuhui district, which is exempted from the 17 percent value-added tax which similar auctioned pieces are subject to.

Lin Qi in Beijing and Zhang Kun in Shanghai contributed to this story.

wuyiyao@chinadaily.com.cn