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Exhibitions add glamour to Hangzhou

By Hu Yang (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-09-16 08:30

Hangzhou municipal heads gave a press conference in Beijing today outlaying their plans to develop the city's suitability for international conferences.

The plan was outlaid at a press conference, held to promote the 11th West Lake International Exposition, the 6th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival (CICAF) and the Symposium on Hangzhou-Beijing Economic Cooperation.

According to Zhang Jianting, deputy mayor of Hangzhou, this year's West Lake Expo aims to realize a trade volume of 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), introduce foreign investment of $1 billion and domestic investment of 12 billion yuan ($1.7 billion).

The event dates back to the 1920's and is expected to attract more than 10 million visitors. It runs from Oct 17 to Nov 10, and is one of the most influential exhibitions in the country.

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This time, the expo will focus on expanding local consumption demand and offering Hangzhou citizens more quality of life products, services and information. Various installations will be present from industries such as digital products, real estate, automotive, communication, tourism, and culture.

Another task of the expo is to further accelerate the city's tourism, appreciating the city boasts a large number of first-class hotels and tourist facilities.

The CACIF, China's only State-level cartoon and animation festival, is held every spring and is making Hangzhou a Mecca for Chinese cartoon and animation fans and professionals within the industry.

Today Hangzhou has become a hub for China's cartoon and animation industry, with five national bases and 135 enterprises established; the number of related professional reaches is also over 10,000. The volume of animation it produces every year ranks high among all Chinese cities.

So far the first five CICAFs have been a great success and the scale is progressing every year. During the 5th CICAF in April 2009, the trade volume reached 6.53 billion yuan ($955 million), more than 400 foreign businessmen from 38 countries and regions came to attend.

The animation trade platform being introduced this year is also the first of its kind in China.

Heavyweights from the cartoon and animation circles attended the 5th CICAF, such as Mark Osborne, director of the Hollywood box-office hit Kung Fu Panda and Taiwan cartoonists Cai Zhizhong and Zhu Deyong.

The 6th CICAF will be held from April 28 to May 3, 2010, and will see a rearrangement of projects designed to make it more friendly to the industry's practice, according to Ye Ming, municipal official and executive director of CICAF. He added that the 2010 festival will invite more foreign enterprises and visitors.

During the press conference, the officials from Hangzhou also encouraged more enterprises and businessmen based in Beijing to cooperate with their counterparts in Hangzhou, saying favorable terms will be offered to Beijing enterprises.