Cultural fair opens tomorrow

Writer: Han Ximin  |  Editor: Stephanie Yang  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2021-09-22

The 17th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF) will open at Hall 9-14 of the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center in Bao’an District tomorrow, showcasing achievements in the cultural and creative industries.

The five-day fair, which will run through next Monday, will open only for professional visitors for the first two days and will receive visitors from the general public in the last three days.

At the same time, the organizer, Shenzhen ICIF Co. Ltd., will set up two virtual halls, which will run round the clock during the fair. Visitors can access the virtual halls by logging onto www.cnicif.com or through the WeChat miniprogram “文博会+” (Cloud ICIF). 

The offline fair covers 120,000 square meters, 15,000 square meters more than last year’s event. It comprises six halls featuring cultural industry achievements; arts, crafts and creative living; the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area; cultural tourism and intangible cultural heritage; and media convergence and smart radio, TV and film industry, the organizer said. There will be 67 subvenues across the city.

Exhibitions featured in the six halls will also be displayed virtually to facilitate Chinese and international businesses to make transactions remotely, according to the organizer.

A virtual Internet Hall will be set up to show the Internt+Culture and latest digital culture industry achievements. The Belt & Road International Hall, a key part of the previous editions of the fair, will also go online this year due to the COVID-19 since there will be no overseas exhibitors present.

Preliminary statistics showed that over 400 interactive activities will be organized at the fair, including exhibitions, forums, auctions, contract signings, competitions and project promotions.

The event will highlight red culture under the theme of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, quality development of cultural industries, the national strategy of digitalizing cultural industries, inheritance and development of China’s outstanding traditional culture, and revitalization of China’s traditional techniques.

It is the first time the ICIF will be held at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center, the largest convention and exhibition center in China.

The center has 19 exhibition halls and over 10,000 parking spots and is covered by 5G signals. It is about 7 kilometers from T3 of the Shenzhen airport and adjacent to Guangzhou-Shenzhen Riverside Expressway. The organizer is considering arranging buses to transport people between the center and the Metro Line 11 station.

Official statistics showed at each of the previous fairs, more than 100,000 cultural products were displayed and 6,000 cultural projects sought investors.