Cultures from around the world at Shanghai expo

The third Yangtze River Delta International Cultural Industries Expo is to take place at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in Shanghai from November 19 to 22 with more than 1,000 exhibitors displaying their products.

With many overseas enterprises and artists unable to come to China because of the pandemic, this year’s event will have an online platform for the release of products and to enable deals to be made. 

"Some overseas companies have their own agencies in China and some cooperate with Chinese firms, so we will categorize them and design proper plans for these companies," said Zhou Minhao, head of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai.

Wang Yayuan, deputy director of Shanghai’s publicity department, said that in addition to established companies such as Tencent, China Literature and Bilibili, newly emerging enterprises featuring cultural science and digital innovation such as game publisher Giant Network, Mihoyo, Shengqu Games and audio sharing platform Ximalaya and Dragonfly FM will feature. 

Local eSports brand Lingshi ESports Center will also be taking part.

Nearly 50 museums in Shanghai and neighboring Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces will be bringing cultural products here.

The expo will also focus on poverty alleviation. The Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tibet and the provinces of Qinghai, Guizhou, Sichuan, Hubei and Yunnan, all of which receive support from Shanghai, have been invited to participate in the expo.

Shanghai Museum will release a cooperation program with the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the expo with two important cultural events provided by Swiss and South Korean exhibitors online.

The expo will also help to build bridges between supply and demand. For instance, in helping eSports companies find sponsors and established Shanghai brands get partners from other industries to realize crossover cooperation.

Product promotions will be held on lifestyle sharing platforms such as Xiaohongshu (Red), Douyin (known overseas as TikTok) and Meituan.

Strict measures will be in place to prevent coronavirus infection and ensure the safety of exhibitors and visitors.