Chaoyang assists businesses to find support, like-minded partners

A range of culturally creative products and projects from Beijing's Chaoyang district were displayed at the 11th China Beijing International Cultural and Creative Industry Expo, with most of the events running from Thursday to Sunday.

Among them was the Beijing Film Academy Cultural and Creative District, an area that aims to cover the whole industrial chain of video production, including financing, creation, production and release.

It was built by the Beijing Film Academy and Beijing Jinxiu Yichuang Tourism Culture Co. Cheng Qi, assistant president at the company, said the area wants to serve startups, offering them comfortable office environments, helping them to find professionals and providing them with opportunities to attract investors.

"We hope to find more like-minded partners at the expo, a very influential gathering in Beijing for cultural industries, and encourage them to develop in the area and foster cooperation with us," Cheng said.

On the first day of the expo, several professionals went to the exhibition area of the Beijing Film Academy Cultural and Creative District and said they would visit the district after the expo to consider cooperative agreements, according to Cheng's colleague.

A representative at the Beijing Chaoyang cultural and creative industry development center said that the district hopes through the expo, a national-level platform for communication and cooperation of cultural and creative sectors, to promote integration of the cultural sector and other industries, such as science and technology, finance, commerce and trade.

Chaoyang also wants to help cooperation in developing the cultural industry among the cities of Beijing and Tianjin and Hebei province, the representative said.

The district attended this year's expo in the main venue, an exhibition hall in the China International Exhibition Center, as well as 20 other sub-venues. The sub-venues provided more than 100 cultural and creative activities, all open to the public, including the 2016 China 3D Technology and Creative Expo and the 2016 China Cyber Games Awards ceremony.

By the end of September, Chaoyang had become home to more than 66,000 cultural and creative companies. The number of such companies increased 8,099 from January to September, up 17.6 percent year-on-year.

Revenues from large cultural and creative enterprises in the district are expected to hit 300 billion yuan ($44.32 billion) this year.

Local cultural authorities said rising fields like digital publication and mobile media have developed quickly, driving the growth of Chaoyang's cultural and creative sectors.

They said the district will mainly promote the development of five industries: culture and media, digital content, creative design, cultural trade and entertainment during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20).

It will work to facilitate the integration of culture and other sectors, such as science and technology, finance and trade, by providing beneficial policies, services, professionals and management during the period.

Chaoyang aims to become a major hub for national cultural markets, international information and media, international cultural communication, and international copyright investment and trade by the end of 2020, authorities said. The district hopes that revenue of its large cultural and creative organizations will reach 400 billion yuan in that year.

(China Daily 11/01/2016 page12)