The global gloom finally hit home in Hong Kong Monday night when the much-anticipated evening sale of contemporary Asian art at Sotheby'sfaltered, with more than a quarter of the lots bought in. Despite that chastening statistic the sale still netted a total of HK$227 million ($29 million), with the buyers premium carrying the auction house acrossthe line to the right side of their low estimate (which did not includebuyers premium) of HK$200 million ($25 million). On a day that Hong Kong's Hang Seng stock-market index fell 4.4 percent in response to the global financial turmoil, and amid signs that China's economic growth was slowing, collectors at the auction applied time-honored strategies of a bear market — endorsing "blue chips," looking for bargains and avoiding speculation.

Behind the headline results, however, lurked an encouraging statistic, at least for those following the fortunes of Chinese contemporary art: 50 percent of the top ten lots (all of which came from that sector) weresecured by non-Asian collectors, including the top lot, Zhang Xiaogang's "Bloodline: Big Family No.1" (1994), which went to a European private collector for a total of HK$65.6 million ($8.4 million)including buyers premium, above its low estimate of HK$58 million. In recent times it has been speculated that non-Asian collectors were retreating from Chinese contemporary art, leaving the sector to Asian — and primarily Chinese mainland collectors — to dominate. But this sale showed that non-Asian (and particularly European) collectors are still pursuing key Chinese contemporary works and that, where the auction is less hotly contested, they have the wherewithal to secure them too.

This reinforced the message coming out of the second sale from the famed Ullens Collection that took place at Sotheby's on Sunday night, where non-Asian collectors were also active but kept coming in as the underbidders as the trove's "historic" status drove prices higher.

The results at the contemporary Asian art sale last night also revealed an unanimity of views between Asian and non-Asian collectors as to whichChinese artists merited support, especially when looking for a blue-chip investment in a skittish market. This list included — unsurprisingly — names like Liu Ye, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Xiaogang, and Zhou Chunya but also,  more notably, such leading exponents of abstract art as Yu Youhan and edgy cynical realist Liu Wei, who have hitherto been considered too difficult to appeal to an Asian or specifically mainland Chinese taste. Last nightAsian collectors took home the Yu Youhan abstract "1990-5," which came in as the tenth priciest lot in the sale, and the Liu Wei "Who Am I?" (1999), which came in at number five.

Away from the top tier of the market, collectors also competed for worksby younger emerging talents who have garnered critical support both within China and internationally. Works by the young painters Chen Ke,Qiu Xiaofei, and Li Qing all attracted solid prices at orwell above their high estimates last night.

Meanwhile, in the Chinese 20th-century art sale Monday afternoon, a new world record for modern master Zao Wou-Ki was achieved when his 1968 canvas "10.1.68" sold for HK$68.9 million ($8.8 million), against an estimate of $3.2-4.5 million. The high-flying price helped push the overall sale to a total of HK$337 million ($43 million) against a total pre-sale estimate of HK$190 million ($24.3 million), the highest total ever for this sector at Sotheby's Hong Kong.