HONG KONG (AP).- For newly minted Chinese billionaires looking to spend their money, a natural choice has been art and antiques from their own country, many costing millions of dollars. Now art dealers and auction houses are trying to pitch them a harder sell: Western masterpieces by artists such as Picasso, whose paintings featured in three autumn shows in Hong Kong. “They are the next big wave of buyers, and they could affect the market as much as the Japanese did in the ’80s,” said Jehan Chu, who runs consultancy Vermillion Art Collections. China’s rapidly developing economy has churned out many wealthy businesspeople who have made their fortunes in industries from soft drinks to property development to the Internet. The country is now home to the world’s largest number of dollar billionaires,