Please view our Asia Week, New York, New York checklist at the end of the article...

Spring in New York belongs to Asia. Museum curators, collectors, connoisseurs, dealers, designers—anyone with the slightest interest in Tang horses or Tibetan textiles—converge for a dizzying array of all things Asian. If you plug into the scene, you become part of a global marketplace, the momentary epicenter of Asian art, a hot commodity in the art world.

New York’s Asia Week, which occurs in spring (late March into early April this year) and fall, is the focal point for significant Asian art auctions, gallery shows, exhibitions, lectures and most importantly, conversations with dealers and specialists. Count on an intellectually edifying experience as you make the tour of galleries and shows with seemingly endless displays of art and artifacts. Whether you’re a spectator or serious collector, Asia Week is a whirlwind of activity with public viewings of remarkable items at auction houses as well as galleries and shows. Asia Week also reveals what is currently available in the market, which is as changeable as the Chinese economy.

Spring Asia Week has two bookends: the downtown Arts of Pacific Asia New York show (March 30–April 2) and the International Asian Art Fair (March 31–April 5). Both shows are strictly vetted and attract dealers from around the world. Slightly larger and with high-end as well as lower-priced objects, Arts of Pacific Asia showcases 82 international galleries. It presents art and artifacts from Asia, the Pacific Islands and the subcontinent.

The gallery booths at Arts of Pacific Asia are extremely diverse, varying from Chinese bronzes, ceramics and textiles, Japanese netsuke and costumes, to prehistoric stone sculpture, Korean rank badges and Indian buddhas. Speaking about last year’s show, Bill Caskey, who produces the show with Elizabeth Lees, says that the 2005 results were “robust in the mid-to-low price points” ($5,000–$50,000) for fine objects, jewelry and furniture.

When asked about trends, London-based Anna Haughton, who organizes the uptown International Asian Art Fair with her husband, Brian, says that the Chinese market is still very strong, but because of the scarcity of material, the market is leaning more toward contemporary paintings and photography. Issues of provenance, authenticity and competition from the internal Chinese market have caused a sea change in what’s available.