The world's largest exhibition venue built as a cable structure will host its first exposition on Thursday in Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei province.

The Shijiazhuang International Exhibition Center, located in Zhengding New Area, has seven exhibition halls, each built as a cable structure spanning more than 100 meters, according to Cao Xinghua, director of the project.

The project is a joint venture initiated and led by China Construction Steel Structure Co Ltd, the largest structural steel industry group in China.

Cable structures are a type of construction structure that use tensioned cables to support major building loads, Cao said.

It can provide wider open areas in the halls and absorb more daylight than conventional exhibition centers, which are always built with supporting concrete columns, he said.

"There are no pillars in the center, so its space can be best used for exhibition," Cao said.

Due to its complexity and the difficulty in design and construction, cable structure exhibition halls are very rare, he added.

Covering an area of about 360,000 square meters, the center is the biggest in northern China.

It can hold around 3,800 standard exhibition booths at a time.

After the first exposition — the Zhengding International Expo — the center will host several top events through the end of the year, including the 2018 International Digital Economy Expo, the International Automobile Industry Exhibition and the Hebei Automobile Culture Festival.