A 15-km-long commercial belt in Beijing's Chaoyang district is gaining popularity as one of the capital's most attractive regions for companies in the cultural and creative industries.
The CBD-Dingfuzhuang corridor is home to more than 16,000 companies in 47 clusters and six State-level parks, according to Chaoyang authorities.
The district office overseeing cultural and creative industries said companies will generate a combined 160 billion yuan ($26.3 billion) in revenue in 2013, more than double the figure in 2009, when the idea to develop the corridor was introduced.
After four years of development, the 78-square-km strip of land, which is less than 1 percent of downtown Beijing, yields one-seventh of its revenue from the cultural and creative industries, the office said.
The corridor mainly comprises the CBD and the Dingfuzhuang area. CBD is mainly concerned with trade and financing and Dingfuzhuang with training, technical and information service, as well as design and production.
The district office said the goal is to build the corridor into China's information and media center and a globally influential information hub.
To realize the goal, the district government has launched another six complexes, with a combined floor space of 750,000 square meters, to meet the demand of companies flowing into the region.
Among them is Huitong Times Square. Featuring landscape architecture, the 310,000-sq-m complex has attracted a number of cultural and media companies, including China Radio International's shopping channel.
The Huateng Century Park community is designed to house the headquarters of advertising and filmmaking companies. The community comprises nine buildings, with 90,000 sq m ready for use and another 70,000 sq m under construction.
Another is the I workshop. Built on the basis of the city's glass-bottle plant and the printing plant, the workshop is divided into four zones for different kinds of companies. It also offers such services as incubating, financing and promotion.
These new facilities are sure to attract more companies and boost the development of cultural and creative industries, the district office said.
New lease on life
One thing that many cultural and creative parks along the corridor share in common is they are built on the basis of unused warehouses or plants.
Among the best-known examples is Maolong Park. Situated at the eastern part of the corridor, it used to be a warehouse that stored products for export.
After renovation, the park, with a floor space of 60,000 sq m, has become an ideal place for companies in such industries as advertising, culture, media, and arts and crafts, the office said.
It also is the venue of the 8th China Beijing International Cultural & Creative Industry Expo, which began on Wednesday and ends Sunday.
Among the events held at the park is a porcelain design exhibition. Organized by three companies based in the park, the exhibition showcases a large variety of products they develop.
Organizers said the exhibits feature not only creative designs but also award-winning techniques such as lead-free glaze.
The park also hosts a jade sculpture exhibition organized by Boguan Auction, also a company in the park, together with the Maolong Art Gallery.
The exhibition displays more than 100 pieces of jade works by award-winning sculptors and attracts many art aficionados.
The art gallery has 10 halls. In addition to the one that houses the jade exhibition, there are also halls for furniture, porcelain, traditional Chinese paintings and calligraphic works, and lacquer sculpture works.
Officials said the park will expand by another 60,000 sq m in 2014, and about 800 million yuan will be invested to improve infrastructure.
When completed, the park is expected to have annual revenue of 10 billion yuan and become an important complex along the corridor, they said.
