'Power of Culture' as Hangzhou goes creative for culture industry expo
The 16th Hangzhou Culture and Creative Industry Expo will be held from December 30 to January 2 at the Hangzhou International Expo Center. This year, organizers will also host an online expo between December 25 and January 4.
Under the theme of "Power of Culture," the offline expo is categorized into seven sections – International Creative Industry, Crafts Diversity, Young Power, Cultural Common Prosperity, Smart Digital Culture, Folklore and Song Dynasty Etiquette.
And the online expo is divided into four segments – Fashion Song Dynasty Street, Creative Cloud Platform, Song Dynasty Jiangnan and Celebrating the Year of the Rabbit, as well as Livestream and Auction.
Visitors can enjoy an immersive and interactive digital experience through the online auction.
Meanwhile, conferences, summits and seminars will be held to offer platforms for trade and talent cultivation. Participants include top universities like Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University and commercial giants such as Weibo, Douyin and Toutiao.
The Japanese booth at the 16th Hangzhou Culture and Creative Industry Expo features 100 cats and varied creative products inspired by cats.
The Song Dynasty (960-1279) is one of the highlights at the expo. With virtual reality facilities, visitors get to experience the ancient cultural heritages, including papermaking, movable type printing and woodcut printing.
Song Dynasty poets, including Su Dongpo (1037-1101), Li Qingzhao (1084-1155) and Lu You (1125-1210), will be digitalized into non-player characters to interact with people. Three dimensional and artificial intelligence technologies will be used to create a future world of Hangzhou in a fashionable way.
About 1,200 brands from home and abroad will showcase their creations in the 30,000 square-meter expo center.
Some 350 foreign organizations and companies from 40 countries and regions, including Italy, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and Switzerland, will join the expo this year.
The Japanese booth will feature 100 cats and varied creative products inspired by cats. At the same time, renowned Italian cartoon Pinocchio and French brand SMILEY will attend the expo for the first time.
French brand SMILEY
For years, the expo has been a spotlight of the cultural and creative industry, attracting a cavalcade of designers and brands to search for a niche and specific market.
This year, Italian bag BUTI will make its first entry into the Chinese mainland market through the expo, and another Italian brand YESE STUDIO will showcase its popular designs among Internet celebrities. British porcelain maker HALCYON DAYS plans to display enamel accessories at the expo.
Organizers will cash in on the livestreaming trend to boost the cultural and creative industry. Many brands will turn to Internet celebrities to promote sales via livestreaming.
First held in 2007, the expo has become one of the four largest cultural and creative trade shows in China. The others are in Beijing, Shenzhen in Guangdong Province and Yiwu in Zhejiang Province.
The cultural and creative industry has been a calling card of Hangzhou for years. Last year, the added value of the industry reached 25.86 billion yuan (US$3.71 billion) with a year-on-year growth of 8.7 percent.
Over the years, the expo has evolved into a platform to develop the city's creative industry and promote economic transformation. It is also considered a platform for local universities to showcase inventions and creative designs.
Italian cartoon Pinocchio
Exhibition info:
Date: From December 30 to January 2
Venue: Hangzhou International Expo Center
Admission: 30 yuan (US$4.5)
Address: 353 Benjing Ave
奔竞大道 353 号
