Quality Life Week to focus on livestreaming

Quality Life Week, part of the Shanghai Double Five Shopping Festival, will take place from May 28 to June 3, featuring hundreds of  livestreaming shows introducing local culture and traditional arts.

Shanghai aims to become a leading city in the livestreaming sector, and authorities are to make use of the Quality Life Week campaign to boost consumption, disseminate local culture, improve the quality of life, and promote high-quality economic and social development.

There are plans to hold nearly 500 online and offline events during the week and design more than 170 key events.

The week is hosted by the publicity department of the Party’s Shanghai Committee, and the city’s culture and tourism administration and commerce commission.

Livestreaming has evolved from simply an audio-visual mode to an emerging commercial system that links production, circulation and content, said Wang Yayuan, vice director of the publicity department and deputy director of the Shanghai State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

"It is an important channel for consumer experience," Wang said. 

Last year, China’s online livestreaming audience reached 526 million, with a market size exceeding 900 billion yuan (US$140 billion). 

It has become an important cultural phenomenon, with various types of live broadcasts containing rich cultural elements, and MCN (multi-channel network) institutions have gradually become major content producers.

This year's Quality Life Week will lay more emphasis on presenting local and traditional culture, with a combination of online livestreams and offline visits to cultural sites.

The three main themed events during the week will focus on the Party’s 100th anniversary, local culture and arts, and digital transformation in aspects including culture, economy and daily life.

MCN institutions and the Internet platforms have been invited to participate in the live broadcast activities. Lifestyle-sharing and e-commerce app RED and video-sharing site Bilibili, both based in Shanghai, are working with influencers who will be hitting the streets.

More than 110 organizations, including major Internet and media platforms, MCN agencies, and art troupes and theaters, will participate in the campaign to promote online development of traditional art, traditional handicrafts products and time-honored brands, to boost their influence, especially among young people.