2006

The second ICIF opened in the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center on May 18, 2006. Chen Zhili, the state councilor; Li Congjun, deputy director of the CPC Publicity Department; Zhao Weisui, deputy minister of the Ministry of Culture; Wang Taihua, director of the State Administration of Radio Film and Television; Long Xinmin, director of the General Administration of Press and Publication; and Huang Huahua, governor of the Guangdong provincial government, attended the opening ceremony and visited the main exhibition halls.

The second ICIF attracted 1,505 exhibitors from over 30 domestic provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, as well as 32 overseas cities. More than 3,012 professional visitors from 46 countries and regions participated in the ICIF.

During the fair, 1,918 cultural projects were signed, with the total turnover reaching 27.54 billion yuan ($4.41 billion).

In September, the CPC Central Committee General Office and Office of the State Council issued the National Program of Cultural Development during the 11th Five-Year Plan, which was the first specialized program of cultural development in China. The ICIF was listed as one of the key fairs of the program.

In November, the 73rd annual meeting of the UFI (the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry) was held in Beijing. Tom Bayer, chief of the UFI, announced that the Shenzhen ICIF had become a UFI approved event and ICIF Company had become a member of the UFI.

Henceforth, the ICIF became the only comprehensive cultural industries fair approved by UFI in China. In December, the Ministry of Culture approved Shenzhen Press Group and Shenzhen International Cultural Industry Fair Co to jointly construct and run the Chinese cultural industry network (www.cnci.gov.cn). The website was hosted by the Ministry of Culture and organized by the Cultural Industry Department of the Ministry of Culture, which was the national authoritative cultural industry portal and the only releasing platform of the service projects of China cultural industries.