The 19th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair kicked off in 
Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province on Wednesday, which is expected to 
inject new impetus into the development of the country's cultural industry.

The five-day national-level fair, featuring mainly offline events, has 
attracted more than 3,500 government bodies, cultural organizations and 
enterprises, according to Shenzhen Municipal People's Government.

With over 100,000 kinds of exhibits from cultural and creative industries both 
at home and abroad, the number of exhibitors rising from over 700 in the first 
exhibition to 3,596 now, and the number of countries and regions for visit, 
exhibition, and purchase growing from over 10 to 108, the International 
Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF) has been growing year after year in terms of 
exhibition scale, visitor count, internationalization level, and trading volume 
since its foundation in 2004. It has become an important driver for the 
development of China's cultural sector, an important platform for Chinese 
culture to go global, and an important window for expanding cultural opening-up.

Civilizations shine through exchanges and are enriched through mutual learning. 
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the inception of the Belt and Road 
Initiative. Over 300 overseas exhibitors from over 50 countries and regions 
have been introduced into the Cultural and Tourism Consumption Hall -- the Belt 
and Road International Pavilion of ICIF. Zeng Xianglai, Director of the Office 
of the Organizing Committee of ICIF, said that in addition to on-site matching 
between domestic and foreign exhibitors and buyers, the organizers also invited 
20,000 overseas professional visitors from 108 countries and regions to 
participate online and offline.

Many overseas exhibitors stated that by participating in ICIF, they had not 
only met many customers from China and around the world but also personally 
felt the co-prosperity of civilizations through exchanges and mutual learning, 
just like beautiful flowers blooming together.
     
At the Brazilian booth, a cool backpack drew much attention. This backpack with 
the LED-screen "eyes", named "Iron Man", is made in Shenzhen and sells well in 
South America. Ge Xiaoling, the China Liaison Officer of the Sino-Brazilian 
Cultural Exchange Association, said that such cross-cultural "top-selling" 
items were nothing new in cultural trade between China and Brazil.

Either taking their proud designs and products to look for buyers in China or 
hoping to bring cultural elements with Chinese characteristics back to their 
own countries and regions, more and more overseas exhibitors are coming along 
with their cultural exhibits, indicating that ICIF is becoming an important 
platform for exchanges and mutual learning among global civilizations.

Since its founding in 2004, the cultural fair has seen a continuous expansion 
in its exhibition scale, visitor number and degree of internationalization. It 
has become an important platform to promote the development and opening up of 
the Chinese cultural industries.

Source: Shenzhen Municipal People's Government