In China, jar of French mountain air fetches $860

BEIJING -- Artist Liang Kegang returned from a business trip in southern France with well-rested lungs and a small item of protest against his home city's choking pollution: a glass jar of clean air from Provence.

He put it up for auction before a group of about 100 artists and collectors late last month, and it fetched $860.

"Air should be the most valueless commodity, free to breathe for any vagrant or beggar," Liang said. "This is my way to question China's foul air."

Liang's work is part of a gust of recent artistic protest -- and entrepreneurial gimmickry -- reflecting widespread dissatisfaction over air quality in China, where cities often are immersed days on end in harmful pollutants at levels many times what is considered safe by the World Health Organization. The chronic problem has spurred brisk markets for dust masks and home air purifiers.

China's leaders have pledged to clean the air, partly in response to a citizenry increasingly vocal about environmental issues. But it is a daunting task that must be balanced with demands for economic development and employment.

In February, 20 artists wearing dust masks lay on the ground and played dead in front of an altar at the Temple of Heaven park in Beijing in a performance art protest.

In March, independent artists in the southern city of Changsha held a mock funeral for what they imagined would be the death of the city's last citizen because of smog.

"If smog cannot be effectively cleaned up, what it will leave us is death and cities of death," artist Shao Jiajun said.

Liang's contribution is an ordinary glass preserves jar with a rubber seal and a flip-top.

The auction closed March 30. Chengdu-based artist Li Yongzheng was the highest bidder.