Jinan FTZ eyes status as base for national cultural exports, foreign cultural trade

The Jinan Area of China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone has been bolstering efforts to build itself into a base for both national cultural exports and national foreign cultural trade.

To achieve this goal, it has adopted an integrated mode of government guidance, enterprise leadership, and domestic and foreign cooperation. It is also combining online and offline resources, and is establishing a comprehensive service system to send more cultural products abroad, including setting up a 6,000-square-meter incubation space for small and medium-sized companies.

Jinan FTZ is also exploring a first regional cooperation mode by partnering with Linxia autonomous prefecture in Gansu province, Xi'an in Shaanxi, and Kaifeng in Henan to create a series of cultural products with elements and characteristics from areas in the Yellow River Basin.

These efforts also include the establishment of a research center for Yellow River civilization and a Linxia Museum display center to promote the export of top-notch cultural products.

In addition, Jinan FTZ has been working with experts and scholars from Peking University and introducing an ISO quality management system to build a cultural export data analysis system. This is in order to facilitate the checking of various data such as product sales, targeted export countries, and consumer habits for more precise market positioning.

To date, the national cultural export and national foreign cultural trade base has directly signed contracts to export cultural products worth a total of more than 200 million yuan ($27.63 million).