A famous traditional Chinese painting by Zhang Daqian will be auctioned Friday in Beijing, with the bottom price of 48 million yuan (US$5.92 million).

The information was released by Cai Li, a consultant with Beijing Zhongbang International Auction Group. The group started preparation for the 2005 painting and calligraphy auction at Poly Plaza on Wednesday, according to Fazhi Wanbao, or Evening Legislative News.

The painting, Picture of the 10,000-li Yangtze River, is about one meter high and 34.56 meters wide, according to the paper.

The plaza and auction group have strengthened security measures to safeguard the works, Cai said.

The auction group said the painting has been insured for at least 50 million yuan (US$6.16 million), but did not release the exact figure.

The painting, a series of Zhang's paintings of a stretch of the Yangtze River, was done in 1968.

Zhang Daqian, or Chang Da-chien, was born at Neijiang in Sichuan Province in 1899, and is a world-renowned artist of traditional Chinese painting. He died in Taiwan in 1983 at the age of 84.

The record price for a Chinese painting by now is 69.3 million yuan (US$8.54 million), set by Lu Yanshao's Landscape After Ancient Poet Du Fu (Du Fu Shi Yi Bai Kai Hua Che) at Hanhai's spring auctions on June 26, 2004.

The second highest was 50 million yuan (US$6.16 million), set by Ode to Peace (He Ping Song) on November 20 the same year and co-produced by 22 masters of Chinese painting.

(Xinhua News Agency, China.org.cn July 29, 2005)