Lasting influence 

In May, Shanghai set up a CIIE market on the Nanjing Road, a commercial hub, with the aim of helping create a lasting spillover effect from the CIIE to benefit exhibitors. Expo participants who find that six days a year is not enough to promote their goods within China can keep doing business in the market.

Many of the shop owners in the market come from BRI countries, including Turkish businessman Ramazan Tuzen, who has lived in China for 12 years selling Turkish handicrafts, porcelain, jewelry, carpets, lamps and even ice cream.

In early November, ahead of the fourth CIIE, Tuzen was busy making preparations, as well as packing and mailing parcels to customers he met at last year's event.

He said the expo experience has helped him build a successful career with annual revenue of millions of US dollars, and the new market is expected to bring his business even more prosperity.

"I would like to tell business people around the world that China is the place to be," he said.