Record price for men in underwear at China auction

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing auction raised a record 57.12 million yuan ($8.2 million) for a mainland Chinese oil painting of men playing cards in their underwear, state media said on Tuesday.

"The Breeding Ground No.1," from the contemporary painter Liu Xiaodong's Three Gorges Series, was bought by a private buyer at the China Guardian 2008 Spring Auction, Xinhua news agency said.

The painting, 2.6 meters (eight and a half feet) high and 10 meters wide, was drawn in the Three Gorges area from 2005 to 2006, depicting 11 men in their underwear playing cards.

"I painted the Three Gorges three times. Every time was a personal improvement for me," said Liu, 45, a China Central Academy of Fine Arts graduate.

($1=6.988 Yuan)

(Reporting by Nick Macfie; Editing by Bill Tarrant)