ART FACTORY: Indian guests visit the Dafen Oil Painting Village in Shenzhen. Dafen is one of the sub-venues of the Sixth China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair held on May 14-17

The Sixth China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF), held on May 14-17, drew more than 10,000 foreign purchasers from 86 countries and regions, who completed deals worth 11.26 billion yuan ($1.65 billion), up 28.41 percent from 2009, said Yin Changlong, spokesman of the ICIF.

Of the total exports, Yin said, the value of contracts reached 3.53 billion yuan ($516.84 million) and the value of intent came to 7.72 billion yuan ($1.13 billion).

On May 15, more than 10 Chinese companies, such as Shenzhen Media Group, signed contracts worth nearly 9 billion yuan ($1.32 billion) with foreign companies.

The spokesman said the total transaction value at the four-day fair hit 108.43 billion yuan ($15.88 billion). Of the total, contracts of 34.87 billion yuan ($5.11 billion) were signed, doubling the value of 17.46 billion yuan ($2.56 billion) in 2009. The biggest contractual project involved a value of 4.3 billion yuan ($629.58 million), and the biggest contract of intent involved a value of 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion).

Among all the industries, the transaction value of publishing and copyright trading stood at 1.39 billion yuan ($203.51 million), that of broadcasting and film services at 4.05 billion yuan ($592.97 million), and that of cultural and art services at 33.9 billion yuan ($4.96 billion).

Covering 105,000 square meters, the main exhibition area of this year's ICIF was composed of eight halls with different themes. A total of 1,797 exhibitors from all over the country participated in the fair, bringing great variety to the products available.

Since this year's ICIF was held after the World Expo opened in Shanghai, many foreign journalists, representatives of foreign governments, commissioner generals of foreign national pavilions, foreign art organizations and many world-level designers came to Shenzhen and took part in the fair. For example, a hip hop troupe from South Korea made a special trip to Shenzhen from Shanghai to perform; a dance troupe from Japan chose the ICIF as the first stop of its China tour; and designers of the Russia Pavilion, South Korea Pavilion and other foreign pavilions at the World Expo site in Shanghai came to share their ideas on architectural design. They all deemed the ICIF as the best platform to understand the Chinese culture and promote cultures of their own countries.

TRADITIONAL HANDICRAFT: A craftsman from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region displays dolls made from clay at the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair on May 14-17

During an interview with Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, Heinz Hermanns, CEO of the International Short Film Festival Berlin, said although he was informed of the scale of the ICIF before he came to China, he was still surprised at the fair site.

Madhura Dutta, an Indian businessperson, said her knowledge of Chinese culture was limited to books and periodicals before, but having visited the fair, she thinks China is more wonderful than she had imagined.

"The ICIF is like the thread of a pearl bracelet, while exhibitors, purchasers, guests and other participants are like the pearls. Through the fair, all of us are strung together, allowing us to create excellent artworks," said Haim Z. Dotan, a famous Israeli designer, said in his speech at the fair.

As the only state-level international cultural industries fair in China, the ICIF has expanded its scale rapidly since its establishment in 2004, and its influence at home and abroad has been strengthened. Figures from the ICIF organization committee showed that visitors to all ICIF events had reached 3.65 million, of which more than 80,000 were foreign visitors.

Moreover, during this year's ICIF , the organizer released the ICIF Development Plan (2010-20), drawing up a grand prospect for the ICIF in the coming decade. The plan said by 2020, the total transaction value of the ICIF would reach 200 billion yuan ($29.28 billion).