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The recently concluded third Yangtze River Delta International
Cultural Industries Expo, or iCiE, marked one of the last major cultural
events in Shanghai this year. The expo, which took place at the National Exhibition and Convention
Center (Shanghai) from Nov 19 to 22, was attended by more than 1,000
museums, institutions and corporations. Despite the pandemic, a series of other festivals and events took
place in the city this year, such as the Shanghai International Film
Festival, the Shanghai Book Fair, the ChinaJoy gaming expo and the
Shanghai International Children's Book Fair. These events have demonstrated the city's "great courage to make
breakthroughs in a changing situation and wisdom to nurture new
opportunities in the crisis", wrote journalist Xu Xiao in an editorial
on the Shanghai-based news portal, The Paper. The city and people of Shanghai "passed the test of the pandemic" and
the success of the iCiE marked "a perfect conclusion to the test
paper", he adds. The first three days of the expo achieved a total trade volume of 380
million yuan ($57.9 million). A series of pacts and agreements were
also signed between institutions of the Yangtze River Delta region that
pledged to join hands to promote and develop cultural industries. According to the Blue Book on the Cultural Industries Development of
the Yangtze River Delta Region, which was released at the expo forum on
Nov 20, the Yangtze River Delta Region accounted for 31.9 percent of the
overall increase in China's national cultural industries' growth in
2018. Cultural industries have been an important pillar of the region's
economy. In 2018, when people in China spent an average 827.4 yuan on cultural
and entertainment annually, those in Shanghai spent more than 3,008.5
yuan per capita. Wang Tao, a representative of Guantong Culture and
Creation Co from Tongling, Anhui province, tells China Daily at the expo
that his company was given the opportunity to showcase its fine
creations of bronze and copper sculptures at the expo for free. "People in Shanghai have enthusiasm for fine designs and creative
products. We want to make ourselves known to consumers in Shanghai and,
more importantly, get to know some partners for potential
collaborations," he says. A major highlight of the iCiE was the museum pavilions, especially
the well-designed exhibition spaces of leading museums in the region,
such as Shanghai Museum and Nanjing Museum in Jiangsu province. Shanghai
Museum also presented the new conceptual IP collaboration with the
Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Earlier this year, the two museums signed a deal to develop new
cultural icons by combining signature images of their respective
collections. "We are working on a series of product designs based on the
new collaboration," according to Li Feng, deputy director of Shanghai
Museum. Other regions aside from the Yangtze River Delta also benefit from
the expo, where special showcases were presented for seven regions.
These showcases featured traditional handicrafts, ethnic art creations
and local specialties, and proved to be popular among visitors.
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