During the past decade from 2004 to 2014, what ups and downs has the China International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF) experienced? Recently, our reporter interviewed Ye Jianqiang, Managing Director of Shenzhen International Cultural Industry Fair Co, to get some answers.

Speaking of the difficult time surrounding the initiation of the first ICIF, he said: “At that time, the idea of hold such a fair was totally new. The organizing work was very challenging, because we couldn’t find any precedent in the country, or even in the whole world. The only thing we could do was to explore this by ourselves.”

“It was very difficult for us to attract exhibitors for the first ICIF. First of all, people didn’t know what the fair was about. Likewise, there were not many decent cultural projects and cultural products to show at that time. So we decided to use the connections of the organizers to convince potential customers to come. We tried our best,” Mr. Ye explained.

“After the first ICIF was over, we began to think about restructuring it for the second one,” he continued. “At that time, the national authority had proposed for the exhibition industry a guiding principle of ‘hosted by government, organized by companies, operated by market and focusing on trade’. Those requirements posed an even bigger challenge for the organizers. At that crucial moment, Shenzhen Press Group decided to set up ICIF Corp to exclusively run the fair. After the third year, ICIF officially formed its own policy of pursuing the concept of ‘Internationalization, Professionalism, Market Orientation, Choice Orientation and Standardization’.”

Ye Jianqiang believes that the fair is still in its growth stage. He attributed the success of the past 10 years to the leading role of industrialization. He pointed out that in recent years, investment and financing projects for the cultural industry have made considerable progress, and the exchange of information technology and human resources between China’s coastal areas and inland regions has been improved. Additionally, the cooperation between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao has also been continuously strengthened. These improvements have facilitated various cultural industry projects in finding the capital, technology, personnel and information they need.

The leading role of industrialization can be seen in the innovation aspects of exhibiting products. Wandering in the professional hall, one will be amazed by the cultural products and projects that not only have a touch of the traditional cultural heritage, but also incorporate rich creativity and innovative ideas. Since the sixth fair, the number and range of cultural products has been greatly increased and expanded, with more and more products in line with the product standards of the international market.

The leading role of industrialization is the most prominent in terms of trade. With the joint effort of the government, society and businesses, ICIF achieves an outstanding turnover and growing exports every year. During the interview, Ye also reveals to our reporter ICIF’s 15-year plan, including continuing to focus on the introduction of investment and inviting more foreign buyers to attend the exhibition.

ICIF: 10 years of hard but fruitful development