This June 7, 2023 photo shows the entrance of the 19th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province. (WILLIAM XU / CHINA DAILY)

China's largest cultural fair opened in Shenzhen on Wednesday with cultural professionals and exhibitors from 50 countries and regions showcasing their various products to global visitors.

Nearly 3,600 government delegations, cultural institutions and enterprises, including over 300 overseas exhibitors, are attending the 19th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair, which runs from Wednesday to Sunday. 

The fair's offline venue covers an area of 120,000 square meters at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center (Bao’an). Besides the main venue, there are also 65 branch venues across the city

The fair's offline venue covers an area of 120,000 square meters at the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center (Bao’an). Besides the main venue, there are also 65 branch venues across the city. 

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The numbers of overseas exhibitors and visitors have returned to their pre-COVID levels, with over 20,000 overseas visitors registering for the event this year, according to the organizer. 

The fair has six exhibition halls featuring digital culture, cultural development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, cultural and tourism consumption, as well as intangible cultural heritages.

Many provinces and cities in the Chinese mainland have set up booths and pavilions at the event, including Sichuan, Gansu and Urumqi of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and are exhibiting various cultural and creative products with local characteristics, such as books, clothes, arts and handcrafts.

The pavilion for countries which are part of the Belt and Road Initiative has also returned to its offline venue this year, attracting nations such as South Korea, Iran, and Nepal to set up booths.

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This year, ICIF also opened an online platform, called “cloud ICIF”, which enables people who cannot attend in-person to display products, make deals and appreciate the beauty of different cultures. The organizer is also using virtual reality technologies to help online visitors experience the contents of the offline fair.

A visitor surnamed Su said that she has noticed many products at the fair have embedded traditional Chinese cultures into their designs. She believes this is a good trend and hopes the fair will be a good platform for designers and customers to feel the beauty of traditional Chinese cultures.

Visitors attend the 19th China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province, on June 7, 2023. (WILLIAM XU / CHINA DAILY)

Eduard Batukhtin, a Ukrainian visitor who works in Guangzhou, said this year's ICIF is bigger in scale compared with those he has attended before. He and his friends have seen many interesting cultural products and have been enjoying the exhibition, he added.