Shenzhen's cultural industry getting stronger by the year

Becoming diversified and dynamic, the cultural industry in Shenzhen, a southern city known for its bold reforms and innovation, aims to be among the strongest in the world by 2025, a government plan said.

In Shekou, located in west Shenzhen, a former glass factory has been turned into a cultural and tourism park. Artists from home and abroad have created a place inside the park for local residents to experience the immersive metaverse with the technologies of virtual reality, augmented reality and real-time rendering. The activity will last until March.

In Luohu, one of the central areas of the city, a beer brewery has been turned into a beer-themed art and culture block in a commercial complex. It has kept some old pipes, barrels and facilities of the brewery and integrated them into an organic renovated area.

Starting from mid-December, the block has been used for the main venue of the 2022 Bi-City Biennial of Urbanism/Architecture between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, an event focusing on urbanism and urbanization for the next three months.

More commonly, old industrial buildings or parks have been turned into spaces for fashion, design and innovation across the city, which covers an area of about 2,000 square kilometers.

The official figures showed that the average annual growth of the cultural industry in Shenzhen has reached 15 percent since 2012. The added value of the industry surpassed 250 billion yuan ($35.9 billion), contributing 8 percent to the city's GDP. More than 100,000 entities registered with the cultural industry employ at least 1 million professionals and workers.

The city government said the sectors of creative designs, animated games and digital culture are extremely competitive in the domestic market.

The rapid progress is partially attributed to the local government's consistent support for the cultural industry, which identified it as one of the four pillar industries together with finance, high technology and logistics.

In 2004, a national cultural fair was staged for the first time in Shenzhen, which was later called the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair or ICIF. It is one of the largest of its kind in the country and is entering its 18th session this year.

It officially opened on Wednesday at its main venue in the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center in Baoan district. It is open to the public from Thursday to Jan 2.

The fair has covered six halls spanning 120,000 square meters and held major activities such as exhibitions, forums, negotiations, transactions and creative contests. In addition, ICIF has virtual halls, including the International Hall opened on the cloud, the organizers said.

A total of 2,532 government delegations, cultural institutions and enterprises have exhibited at the fair on-site and 870 institutions and enterprises have set up online booths, said the organizers.

About 300 cultural organizations and companies from 30 countries and regions in Europe, Asia, South and North America and Oceania have participated at the online international hall.

Simultaneously, 65 subvenues are scattered across the city. They have organized more than 300 cultural-themed exhibition and transaction activities during its run.

chenhong@chinadaily.com.cn

A Jiangsu delegate displays a digital exhibition at the 18th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair, which kicked off on Dec 28. CHEN WEN/FOR CHINA DAILY

A photo exhibition showcases 100 ancient Chinese bridges. CHINA DAILY

A visitor takes photos of the pictures at the first Longhua Digital Arts and Crafts Exhibition, a side event of the fair kicked off on Dec 26. CHINA DAILY