Zibo's ceramic products have been used in the Great Hall of the People, the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, and Zhongnanhai - China's central government complex. Photos provided to China Daily

An important international gathering for specialists who want technical exchanges and business opportunities

Businesspeople and ceramics industry analysts will find plenty to get excited about and plenty of opportunities at an international ceramics exposition in the city of Zibo, Shandong province, in September.

The city is seen as a leader in China's porcelain and ceramics business so it is expecting folks from around the world, for the 11th Zibo International Ceramics Expo, starting on Sept 6 and running for four days.

The expo is expected to attract more than 1,000 leading ceramic manufacturers at its 300,000-square-meter exhibition hall. It will have about 20,000 examples of high-tech ceramics, porcelain for daily use, ceramics for buildings, and colored and glazed pottery.

The first expo, back in 2001, was sponsored by the China Federation of Industrial Economics, China Ceramics Industrial Assoc, China Building Ceramics and Sanitary Ware Association, and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing.

Because of its increasing scale and large number of exhibits and participants, it has evolved into an important international gathering of ceramic industry specialists, looking for technical exchanges and business opportunities.

Last year's event reported a business turnover of 3.5 billion yuan, 1.5 billion yuan of that from on-site transaction, the local government has said.

This year's event will have a modern ceramics show, fine porcelain-products auction, a culture industry show, an investment and trade fair, a ceramic tile fair aimed at the international market, and a series of cultural and tourist activities.

One major event for the expo, one that will attract ceramic artists from Japan, Canada, the United States and Argentina, is the week-long "wood fire" festival, beginning on September 1, to create works of art on-site.

This is China's only international event of its kind and is designed to give people a taste of traditional kiln-fired ceramic making.

Zibo is a birthplace of Chinese ceramics, referred to as the "northern capital of ceramics", with a history of more than 10,000 years. Its ceramics industry now covers a wider range, including daily-use ceramics, decorative materials, and high-tech products, and is worth about 10 billion yuan annually.

It has at least 150 companies, producing 850 million pieces of daily-use ceramics annually, putting it in second place in the nation.

The city has its wholesale markets and is a major trading center, with an annual turnover of 20 billion yuan.

The industry's development has helped the city's economy, with a total output worth 159.5 billion yuan, in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 11.9 percent.