The much-anticipated Shandong International Cultural Industries Fair kicked off on Sept 19 in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China with achievements in the culture sector.

Jointly hosted by the Shandong publicity department, the Shandong provincial department of culture and tourism and the Jinan municipal government, the five-day event features an exhibition area of 103,000 square meters, with more than 5,000 international-standard stalls and 2,701 exhibitors.

The fair consists of one area specifically for business match-making and trade promotion activities and another nine exhibition areas covering creative design, calligraphy and paintings, fine arts and crafts and new media business.

More than 20 leading cultural technology enterprises, including Huawei, Tencent and Gooest Tech as well as 14 new media groups including the Twitter-like Sina Weibo Sina and Bytedance, have gathered at the fair to showcase their latest technologies and products in the cultural field.

Superb works from the 2019 "Taishan Design Cup" Cultural and Creative Design Competition are displayed in the exhibition area for creative design.

Also available to visitors is a dazzling display of cultural and creative products launched by such august names as the Palace Museum and the National Museum of China.

Cultural creative enterprises and institutions from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are also present.

As one of the country's only two large-scale cultural exhibitions certified by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, this year's event involves the largest exhibition area and has smashed the record for most exhibitors.

The number of participating countries and regions and foreign exhibitors has also exceeded previous years.

More than 365 international exhibitors from 51 countries including Germany, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Russia and Hungary are attending.

In addition, a total of 743 Chinese companies from outside the province are participating.

A joint exhibition featuring the cultural industries of provinces along the Yellow River is a highlight.

A total of 322 cultural industry projects are being promoted at the event, involving a total investment of 479.22 billion yuan ($67.49 billion).

An online trading platform has been launched where customers can buy more than 100,000 cultural products from at home and abroad.

Visitors crowd the exhibition areas of the eighth Shandong International Cultural Industries Fair. [Photo/dzwww.com]

A performance attracts hordes of spectators during the eighth Shandong International Cultural Industries Fair. [Photo/dzwww.com]

Exquisite porcelain products are displayed at the exhibition booth of Zibo, Shandong province. The city is a major production and export base for glass and everyday ceramics in China. [Photo/dzwww.com]