A visitor experiences an immersive interactive project during the 21st China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF) in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, May 22, 2025. (Xinhua/Xiao Ennan)
BEIJING, May 30 (Xinhua) -- A robot composes poems like a poet, an AI model generates customized 3D bibelots, and cultural relics get revived in VR spectacles…the 21st China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industry Fair (ICIF), which commenced on May 22, serves as a window showcasing the booming momentum of China's cultural industry to the world.
Industry observers note that there has been a growing trend of integration of traditional culture and cutting-edge technology with new cultural business forms, industrial models and consumer experiences becoming new drivers for economic growth while generating fresh investment opportunities, reported Xinhua-run Shanghai Securities News.
-- Thriving cultural industry
Data by the National Bureau of Statistics shows that cultural enterprises realized revenue of 3.3939 trillion yuan in Q1 this year, up 6.2 percent year on year on comparable basis, with profit totaling 274.4 billion yuan, up 29.1 percent on year. Among them, 16 industrial segments with distinct new cultural business forms achieved revenue of 1.4846 trillion yuan, up 12.5 percent on year, 6.3 percentage points higher than that of general.
Such figures are more vividly demonstrated when visiting the ICIF, with culture permeating all walks of life, breeding new cross-sector business forms such as cultural technology, cultural creative IP, and digital museum.
The "Black Myth: Wukong", for instance, recreates the Eastern myth in the game world by using digital technologies; live streaming replicates the decorative patterns on caisson ceilings of the Dunhuang Grottoes to boost the sales of cultural creative products; online consumption modes like cloud exhibition and cloud tourism broaden the boundaries of cultural experience…
In the meantime, through means such as digitalization and digital co-branding, traditional Chinese culture is revitalized through cultural IPs such as Sanxingdui relics, Dunhuang Museum, and National Museum.
The way of cultural experience is also transforming. It is noted that UNTRO has partnered with the Capital Library of China to launch the VR visual narrative work The Beijing Central Axis in Print. In addition, BJNews utilizes 3D panoramic reconstruction technology to develop The Long Song of Beijing Central Axis, which vividly restores the styles and features of 15 major nodes along the central axis.
-- New wave of "culture plus" consumption
The "culture + consumption" creative products have become widely known in recent years demonstrating the strong vitality of culture-empowered consumption.
At the Kweichow Moutai exhibition area, the brand mascot "Xiao Mao" attracted quite a few young visitors. Driven by the young-oriented strategy, Moutai culture and tourism company under Kweichow Moutai Group has developed a dozen of cultural and creative products including the "Xiao Mao" mascot and "Maoxiaoling" designer toys.
As early as 2023, Kweichow Moutai's annual sales revenue of cultural and creative products exceeded 600 million yuan, showing the prominent effect of the in-depth development of cultural IPs.
"The burgeoning emotional consumption turns out to be an enduring driving force for industrial development," noted Liu Yifeng, business manager of Yuancang Culture Technology Co., Ltd. affirming that designer toys and creative products with the attribute of emotional resonance are gaining popularity.
-- Mounting cultural investment
During the ICIF, the Guangdong delegation held a signing ceremony of 18 key cultural programs with a total amount of over 1.6 billion yuan, covering film and television, performing arts, animation, online game, eSports, online audio-visual services, and other sectors, indicating intensifying investment in the cultural industry.
Among them, Galaxy Entertainment Group and Damai Entertainment Holdings will jointly build a "Greater Bay Area performing arts hub"; Maoyan Entertainment will set up the headquarters of entertainment and performing arts in Guangzhou; Netease will work with the Canton Tower, a landmark of Guangzhou, to create large serial offline activities of "digital + culture, commerce and tourism"; Tencent's Yuewen Group will collaborate with relevant departments of Shenzhen to build a new urban cultural tourism landmark -- the 2,000 square-meter Yuewen Library at Shenzhen Book Mall Bay Area branch.
In addition, Shenzhen's Longhua District will host the domestic debut of the world-renowned IP "Harry Potter · A Forbidden Forest Experience" immersive night tour, and work with China Oriental Performing Arts Group to build a theater complex, aiming to cultivate the most influential cluster of performing arts in the Greater Bay Area.
"The culture industry has both social and commercial value, and thus is the key area we prioritize in our business layout, especially for those culture-technology-integrated ones," noted a source with a venture capital company.
It is learned that as the "No.1 cultural industry expo in China", the previous twenty sessions of ICIF had facilitated the signing of more than 70,000 cultural industry investment and financing programs.
(Edited by Niu Huizhe with Xinhua Silk Road, niuhuizhe@xinhua.org)
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