Los Angeles Times (Sunday)

Tech-saved antiquitie­s draw crowds of visitors

- — CAO YINGYING

At the 2020 China Internatio­nal Fair for Trade in Services, or CIFTIS, held in Beijing from Sept 4 to 9, exquisite cultural products attracted the eyes of visitors.

Among the most popular destinatio­ns at the fair was the pavilion of the host city, a key national cultural center. Its cultural exhibition showcases Beijing’s artifacts, museums and the latest achievemen­ts in the integratio­n of relics and technology.

As part of the exhibition, the Beijing Innovation and Incubation Center for Derivative­s of Cultural Relics displayed its achievemen­ts made over the last three years and 22 pilot museums also showcased their creative cultural products at the exhibition.

Li Xiongfei, a staff member of the Beijing Innovation and Incubation Center for Derivative­s of Cultural Relics, said that as a product developmen­t platform of Beijing museums, the center works for the capital’s cultural and museum resources.

With years of exploratio­n, the center has become one of the most important achievemen­ts in creative cultural relics developmen­t and transforma­tion. It has laid a solid foundation for building the whole industrial chain of Beijing’s cultural museums and cultural creative industry, Li added.

The exhibition introduced the online trading of cultural relics and art for the first time.

Antique online bidding platform ePaiLive organized online cultural relics and art-trading activities that attracted wellknown auction houses and antique dealers from 13 countries.

The total value of this trading is expected to exceed 3.3 billion yuan ($482.46 million).

The exhibition also displayed online trading-related technologi­es and released big data research results of cultural relics and art trading.

According to the local government, Beijing is home to more than 280 cultural relics auction companies, accounting for more than 60% of China’s total. Auction sales rose steadily to 17.7 billion yuan by the end of last year in the capital.

 ?? ZHANG WEI / CHINA DAILY ?? Performers dressed as cartoon characters welcome visitors to the Beijing cultural exhibition at the China Internatio­nal Fair for Trade in Services held in Beijing earlier this month.
ZHANG WEI / CHINA DAILY Performers dressed as cartoon characters welcome visitors to the Beijing cultural exhibition at the China Internatio­nal Fair for Trade in Services held in Beijing earlier this month.

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