The 5th West China Cultural Industries Fair has successfully concluded. With the duration of four days, 550,000 visitors, and contract amount totaling 67.5 billion yuan, this year s fair has set several records in Xi an. As the survey showed, 92% of the exhibitors expressed satisfaction over the fair, and the overall satisfaction rate of visitors reached 87.7%. As the host of the fair, Xi an excelled in its performance under the spotlight of western regions and the whole country.
The success of the 5th West China Cultural Industries Fair fully proves that our choice of setting Xi an of Shaanxi as the permanent site of the fair during the fourth session two years ago was right. The achievements of this year s fair are quite evident. The effects of the fair s permanent location go far beyond our expectation, said Wu Jiangbo, director of the Executive Committee s Office of the 5th West China Cultural Industries Fair and associate counsel of Culture Ministry s Culture Industry Department, who spoke highly of this year s fair.
Glamour of West China s Culture Industry Highlights the Splendid Exhibition
As a national and internationalized comprehensive exhibition of culture industry, this year s West China Cultural Industries Fair has made new breakthroughs. It not only serves as a name card showing the glamour of West China s culture industry, but also builds a platform for the communication and cooperation of eastern region, central region and western region s culture industries, which promotes West China s culture industry in the world.
As guests from all over the country and across the world met together in Xi an, masterpieces of culture industry were displayed on the fair. Besides 12 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in West China, the fair also attracted the participation of central and eastern provinces and cities including Henan, Shandong, Jilin, Zhejiang, Beijing, Xiamen, and Zhaoqing as well as Taiwan.
Moreover, foreign enterprises actively attended the fair. Foreign countries including Australia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Thailand also sent delegations for the exhibition. With the wide geological distribution of participants and increasing exhibition scale, the West China Cultural Industries Fair has moved beyond the western region of China and become a platform for exchanges and cooperation with central and eastern regions as well as the world community.
Detailed categorization of pavilions and high-tech elements are the public s obvious impression of this year s fair. There are five pavilions on the fair, namely, Western Culture Pavilion, International Cooperation Pavilion, Digital Media Pavilion, Creative Culture Pavilion and Cultural Life Pavilion. More than 2,000 booths, twice the number of last session s booths, were provided for exhibition. A lot of booths were endowed with unique features thanks to the integration of high-tech elements.
Important activities were launched one after another on the fair, which demonstrated the flourishing development of culture industry. There were more than 10 specialized cultural events and events held in 10 sub-venues, covering products exhibition, project promotion, cooperation negotiation, group contract signing, cultural forums, and artistic performances. Those diversified events attracted the enthusiastic participation of exhibitors and visitors and served as a sound platform for cooperation and exchanges.
Promoting Resource Integration and Forging the Alliance of Culture and Industrial Market
Thanks to the fair, a series of characteristic culture industry projects were integrated with each other, the cultural resource of western region was applied into the real industry, and the western culture injected into burgeoning vitality. As the statistics showed, the number of signed contracts on the fair totaled 67, the amount of which reaching 67.
5 billion yuan, more than eight times that of last session. These figures not only showed the rapid growth of western culture industry, not also highlighted the unprecedented role of the West China Cultural Industries Fair as a trading platform and the great potential for the development of western culture industry.
Over the past several decades, the writers of Shaanxi were dubbed Shaanxi force and became one of most productive forces of Chinese literary circle. They created numerous outstanding works, many of which were adapted into scripts of movies and TV dramas. However, once in a time, the literary works were confined to the text form and not utilized for commercial purposes.
On this fair, cooperation intentions were reached for a number of literary works with Shaanxi elements. For example, Xi an Qujiang Film & TV Investment (Group) Co., Ltd signed a contract with Chen Zhongshi, the author of White Deer Plain, hoping to reproduce the historic events in the masterpiece on screen.
Fan Chuan, a writer from Yan an signed a contract with Shaanxi Zhonglian Yifeng Magnetomotive Force Co., Ltd and planned to launch the filming of the TV drama Lan Hua Hua. Relying on the platform of high standard films and TV series, the regional culture of Shaanxi will be surely better promoted across the country.
Besides the exploration of western regional resources, focus was also shifted toward the overseas cultural resource. Xi an Qujiang Film & TV Investment (Group) Co., Ltd and AMPCO Films PTY Ltd from Australia launched a cultural cooperation project and jointly initiated the strategic framework agreement of establishing the China-Australia Film &TV Cooperative Federation, which marks the founding of a cross-border and mutual complementary Sino-Australia international film &TV federation as well as another substantial measure to promote the internationalization of Shaanxi film &TV industry.
Xi an, also known as Chang an in ancient times, was the capital of more than 10 dynasties in Chinese history. Apart from the literary masterpieces of renowned writers, the abundant historical resources are also the unparalleled fortune of Xi an. In this year s fair, a Sino-US 10-billion-yuan theme park project featuring the adventure to the imperial tombs in Xi an attracted extensive attention of the public.
The project servers as a new trial project of Shaanxi province s cultural tourism industry as well as an endeavor of transferring Shaanxi s potential historical relics resources into an advantageous industry.
The steady development of culture industry shall be based on projects and promoted by enterprises. As the leading enterprise in culture industry of Shaanxi province and the Chinese sponsor of Xi an imperial tombs adventure theme park, Shaanxi Culture Industry Investment Holding Co. was brought under the spotlight on this year s fair, during which the company signed a total of nine projects with the worth of 33.
84 billion yuan, making it the exhibitor with most signed contracts and largest contract amounts on the fair. A number of leading enterprises in Shaanxi have played a significant role in promoting the development of the provincial culture industry.
With the debuts of many cultural enterprises and signing of a series of projects, the West China Cultural Industries Fair has showed its powerful radiation force and internal strength. The soft power of western culture was also projected through the cultural products. The integration of culture industry with financial capital will not only promote the idea-products-profits circulation of western culture but also speed up the recognition process of western region s literal and social spirits.
Pushing Forward the Cultural Advantages for A Brighter Future of Western Region s Leap-forward Development
In order to adjust economic structure and promote development during the transformation period, China must improve its capacity for independent innovation and technological progress through the development of culture industry. As the western development enters the crucial second 10-year period and China s culture industry steps into the golden decade of development, whether we can fully activate the social function of culture industry determines the prospects of western region s leap-forward development.
Culture is not only a spiritual power, but also represents considerable potential of economic development, said Hu Yue, member of the Standing Committee of CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee and director of Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee s publicity department. The development of culture industry in western region is endowed with unique advantages, including vast mountains and great rivers, time-honored history and colorful culture.
Shaanxi is a province rich in cultural resources. In recent years, the CPC Shaanxi Provincial Committee and the provincial government have set the strategic goal of building a province with cultural strength in western region, vigorously pushed forward the reform of cultural administrative system and promoted the development of culture industry.
At present, culture industry has become the new economic growth point of Shaanxi province.
The Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone Development Plan approved by the State Council in June 2009 sets the goal of building Xi an into an international metropolis and a regional center of trade, logistics and exhibition, said Lu Shanbing, professor with the School of Economic &Management at Northwest University. This year s fair set a lot of records with respects to scale as well as numbers of exhibitors, visitors and contracts, which demonstrated the increasing role of Xi an as a regional center of trade, logistics and exhibition.
Some experts speak highly of the significance of this fair s success against the backdrop of deepening western development and listing of culture industry as key strategic emerging industry. Since the conditions for the development of culture industry has little relations with former industrial foundation, the comprehensive effects of developing culture industry in western region would be geographically and naturally more advantageous than conventional industries.
With the introduction of qualified talents and fabulous ideas, it is very likely for western region to realize the leap-forward development.
In order to encourage the development of culture industry in western region, the government must further improve the supporting policies regarding finance, tax, investment, banking, land, and talents, increase the capital investment, and focus on key projects, some experts suggested. Due to the fund shortage and underdeveloped market in western region, the capital, technology and cultural ideas of eastern region need to be introduced to promote the transformation of western region s advantageous cultural resources, during which the West China Cultural Industries Fair shall play the role of a platform.
At present, the provinces and autonomous regions in western region have a strong desire for the development of culture industry and are trying to attract foreign investment and develop characteristic culture industry through their own cultural resources.
Currently, Shaanxi is in the leading position of the culture industry development in western region. The West China Cultural Industries Fair has become an important platform to present the western region s culture industry and promote the western culture across the country and the world at large. It has also become a powerful engine to accelerate the development of western region s culture industry. Depending on the success of this year s fair, the culture industry in western region will definitely embrace an even bright future.