Photography in China is finally getting flashy.

While Chinese contemporary art has been making waves in recent years at international museum exhibits and auction houses, paintings and sculptures have most often stolen the limelight.

Now a new focus in Chinese art is drawing praise from critics and collectors alike -- photography.

"Photography is now muscling into the sacred territory once reserved for paintings and sculptures, and becoming the new landmark in the art development," says Dong Mengyang, CEO of Art Beijing.

For the past three years, Art Beijing has organized a grand exhibition of Chinese contemporary art, with cooperation from galleries around the world.

This year, for the first time, the celebrated annual art expo will feature a new component: Photo Beijing.

Both Art Beijing and Photo Beijing are open to the public this weekend, from September 6 to 9 at the Beijing Agricultural Exhibition Hall.

Of the 16 galleries participating in Photo Beijing, 10 are based in China.

Whether visitors are looking to appreciate art, glimpse the history of Beijing through old photographs, or cash in on the hot market for contemporary photography, a trip to the expo will offer much to stir the imagination.

Among the photos that win the hearts of collectors, quite a few are old photos, especially photos with historic value.

For instance, British photographer Thomas Child's six early pictures of the Summer Palace and Winter Palaces (taken in Beijing in the 1870s) have been fiercely chased by collectors. And Zhang Dayi's arresting image of the demolition of parts of the Forbidden City has been hailed as an icon of Chinese photography.

Although the romance of the old photographic image is certainly appealing, some contemporary photographers have been successful with a more conceptual approach.

Today a new generation of curators and collectors is discovering that international art lovers can relate to the subject matter depicted in photographs, whether the images show old Beijing or the fast-changing landscape of modern China.

While photography was once less celebrated than other forms of visual art, that old attitude is quickly changing. "Photographers have been allowed now onto the same ladder as their fellow painters and sculptors," says Dong. (In 2006, Sotheby's achieved the highest-ever single-photograph sale price in history, selling Edward Steichen's "The Pond-Moonlight" for a record $2,928,000.)

The value assigned to photographs, including those taken by top Chinese photographers, is steadily rising. In 2006, Zhang Huan's series of photographs entitled Family Tree drew high praise, and hefty bids, at Sotheby's "Contemporary Art Asia" auctions, held in New York.

Last year, Beijing hosted its first major photo auction, further boosting the field.

"I think photography is still greatly undervalued in the scheme of art," says Joshua Holdeman, international director of photographs at Christie's Auction House: "You can buy one of the icons of art history in the photography genre for the same price as a third-rate Renoir sketch."

But critics predict that this attitude is fast changing.

"Photographs worth collecting should be of special significance and be a record of history," says Xu Jianing, an official at Huachen Auctions.

In addition to the Photo Beijing highlights, Art Beijing 2008 will host a main exhibition designed by esteemed curator Zhao Li. This year's theme is "public art". Top Chinese artists Sui Jianguo, Qu Guangci, Xiang Jing, Cao Hui, Chen Wenling, Li Hui and Chen Ke have been invited to participate.

Also, top galleries in the 798 Art District, such as Platform China, will put on special exhibitions to celebrate the opening of Art Beijing.

(9 am-4 pm, September 6-9. National Agricultural Exhibition Centre, 16 Dongsanhuan Beilu, Chaoyang District. 6509-6688.) (By XIAO CHANGYAN/ China Daily/ ANN)