A significant highlight of the just concluded 2026 Beijing Book Fair was the expanded cross-industry cultural product exhibition zone, which has seen a one-third increase in booth space compared to the previous edition, signaling a new trend of integration between the cultural and creative industries and the publishing sector.
The fair featured an array of cultural and creative exhibits, with many products blending traditional and modern elements.
The "Southern Song Study", a bookstore in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, presents an innovative open exhibition format, featuring a series of seals designed and produced with Song Dynasty (960-1279) movable type printing as inspiration. Additionally, practical cultural and creative products, which cleverly incorporate elements extracted from Song Dynasty clothing patterns into daily life, make the aesthetic charm of traditional patterns tangible.
"Over the years, we have published many books on the Song Dynasty culture, such as 'The History of the Two Song Dynasties Hidden in Cultural Relics.' This series extracts some patterns from Song Dynasty clothing and creates secondary designs. We have peonies and our dragon and phoenix motifs, which are all auspicious symbols with particular meanings. We hope that cultural and creative products serve as a small entry point, which in turn promotes reading," said Zhao Qunwei, the manager of Southern Song Study.
For the first time, the "Telling China's Stories Well" exhibition, located within the cross-industry cultural product zone, brought together over 100 exhibits from more than 50 publishing houses nationwide.
These included character figurines and postcards from "Water Margin" (one of the four major Chinese classics), folding lamps depicting scenes from "Dream of the Red Chamber" (another of the four major Chinese classics), "The Twelve Beauties of Jinling" paintings, and Dunhuang flying apsara dolls. These exhibits draw creative inspiration from rich publishing resources, demonstrating the trend towards high-quality development in future publishing and cultural creative work.
"The fine traditional Chinese culture possesses a cultural charm that transcends time and space, across China and foreign countries. Therefore, the concentrated display of publishing cultural and creative products at the book fair today is an attempt, or rather, a starting point. We will also take some of these exhibits overseas to the London Book Fair in March, hoping that through cultural and creative products, we can narrow the distance between our publications and foreign audiences, thereby telling China's stories well and spreading our Chinese culture effectively," said Jia Qiuya, vice president of Foreign Languages Press.
The 2026 Beijing Book Fair was held from Thursday to Saturday, with over 400,000 titles on display. This year's book fair featured more than 10 themed zones as well as an exhibition area for various cultural products.
2026 Beijing Book Fair highlights cultural, creative integration in publishing
The Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is emerging as a key engine for China's fast-growing low-altitude economy by leveraging its dense industrial networks, efficient logistics systems, and rapid innovation capacity.
From logistics and manufacturing to urban services, the region is building an integrated industrial chain that allows low-altitude industries to scale up at unprecedented speed, thus turning drone-based applications from isolated trials into large-scale, commercial operations.
China's 15th Five-Year Plan, covering 2026 to 2030, calls for the cultivation of new pillar industries and the accelerated development of strategic emerging industrial clusters, including the low-altitude economy.
At a drone operations center in Bao'an District, Shenzhen City in south China's Guangdong Province, a dozen logistics drones take off and land within minutes. Urgently needed production parts, documents, and small parcels are dispatched from here to cities in the province including Dongguan, Zhongshan, and Zhuhai.
Behind these high-flying aircraft lies what observers describe as an "invisible industrial chain", built on speed and efficiency.
"Look at this aircraft. About 90 percent of its components come from nearby areas. Relying on Shenzhen's strong logistics capabilities and its complete supply chain, these parts can be delivered to our factory within half an hour for assembly, processing, and production," said Li Kunhuang, person-in-charge of Shenzhen GODO Innovation Technology Co., Ltd.
Once a new product is unveiled, testing and calibration begin immediately at the drone testing field. As soon as the process is completed, the new models can be put into real-world operation, realizing almost “zero delay” from research and development to application.
Supported by a robust industrial chain, low-altitude routes in Shenzhen are effectively connecting the urban landscape. From its Bao'an District to Songshan Lake in Dongguan City, production components can be delivered within one hour. Supplies are transported between Zhuhai City's Xiangzhou Port to Dong'ao Island in just 25 minutes. And light industrial goods can travel round-trip within a single day between Guzhen Town in Zhongshan City and Xinhui District in Jiangmen City.
More low-altitude application scenarios are expected to be implemented in the near future.
In Qianhai District, Shenzhen is accelerating the construction of a pilot demonstration zone of low-altitude integrated three-dimensional transportation hub.
"We have built the country's first low-altitude integrated three-dimensional transportation hub, and are gradually developing a pilot flight zone that integrates multiple scenarios such as inspection, logistics, and cultural tourism. This will provide technical support for the next step of commercializing cross-border logistics and emergency rescue services across the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area," said Wu Xuemin, head of the Shenzhen Qianhai Low-Altitude Integrated Three-Dimensional Transportation Hub Pilot Demonstration Zone.
Integrated supply chains propel Greater Bay Area's low-altitude economy growth
