The eighth Shandong International Cultural Industries Fair came to an end on Sept 23 in Jinan, the province's capital city, with on-site retail sales totaling 304.37 million yuan ($42.84 million) and orders worth 491.22 million yuan during the five-day fair.

More than 400,000 people visited the fair, setting a record high.

Ten key cultural tourism industry projects involving many of the province's cities, including Qingdao, Jinan, Tai'an, and Yantai were signed, with the total contract amount reaching 92 billion yuan.

Designed to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as display the province's achievements in cultural and tourism sectors, the event spanned an exhibition area of 103,000 square meters, the largest size compared to previous editions, and offered more than 5,000 international-standard stalls.

The number of participating countries and regions and foreign exhibitors also exceeded previous years' editions.

This year's fair attracted more than 365 international exhibitors from 51 countries, including Germany, Britain, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and Hungary, as well as a total of 743 Chinese companies from outside the province.

Unique cultural elements of Shandong were highlighted at the event, such as its spring water culture, Mount Tai culture, Grand Canal culture, and the Yellow River culture.

Traditional crafts, as well as emerging new media forms and modern cultural technologies were also spotlighted at the fair.

Huawei, Tencent, and 34 other cultural and technological enterprises, as well as new media brands, showcased their latest technologies and products in the cultural field.

The event also included the Palace Museum, the National Museum, as well as other cultural and creative brands, with more than 100,000 cultural and creative products displayed.

For the first time, the exhibition time was extended to 8:30 pm every day to help generate more deals.

Visitors crowd the exhibition area of the eighth Shandong International Cultural Industries Fair on Sept 23. [Photo by Cui Jian/news.e23.cn]

Visitors are attracted by the cultural creative products launched by the Palace Museum at the fair in Jinan, Shandong province. [Photo/news.e23.cn]