The 57th China International Furniture Fair opened on Wednesday in Guangzhou City, south China's Guangdong Province, drawing together a record-high of over 5,100 exhibitors with eye-catching innovative products.
A major highlight of the fair is the complementary industrial loop formed by age-friendly home furnishings, smart elderly care, and rehabilitation nursing.
For example, one eye-catching product is a smart bed that uses AI-powered dynamic vital sign detection to capture real-time health data such as blood oxygen, blood pressure, heart rate, and deep fatigue index.
"We have a 6-minute smart sleep aid that consists of three stages: the first minute features low-frequency vibration, the following two minutes feature a baby-like cradle experience, and the last three minutes feature a full-body wave-like motion," said the exhibitor.
Closely following current consumer trends, the event this year features four special exhibition zones for the first time: health and elderly care, pet furniture, massage chairs and sofas, and new retail. As pets increasingly become members of families, many innovative new products are emerging in pet furniture and related accessories.
"If a pet gets a patch of the sofa dirty while using it, we can easily remove and wash that patch separately, extending the product's lifespan. We also have a very interesting dish rack with an observation window, allowing you to watch your pet eat – it's quite psychic healing," said an exhibitor who makes innovative pet products.
The fair is divided into two phases. The first phase runs from the March 18 to 21, focusing on residential home furnishing products, while the second phase will be held from March 28 to 31, mainly showcasing office and commercial products.
Over 5,000 exhibitors gather for Int'l Furniture Fair in Guangzhou
Micro-dramas born in China are now taking the U.S. market by storm, and according to a popular American actor, the U.S. film and television industry is looking to copy China's playbook to replicate the commercial success of its vertical-screen short dramas.
Matt William Knowles is the first non-Asian to graduate in acting from the Beijing Film Academy and has starred in multiple hit Chinese TV dramas, including "Red Sorghum" and "Eastern Battlefield". Now, as he has become the face of America's vertical micro-drama boom, he said the experience feels nothing short of surreal.
"I didn't expect that the vertical series would be a thing several years ago, and now they've popped up and grown so fast," said Knowles.
In his view, vertical micro-dramas have long ceased to be a niche phenomenon. In the U.S., they've already built a huge and fast-growing audience.
"I think a couple of years ago, there was a smaller market or type of person who was watching this series, and now there are more and more people who are watching. I had a friend who said he was on a construction site recently, and there were a bunch of construction workers, and they were all watching a vertical series together," he said.
As an insider, Knowles has observed a notable shift in the U.S. film and television industry in recent years: a growing trend of looking to China for inspiration. Backed by hard market data, the once-supreme Hollywood is now filled with professionals eager to decode the business secrets behind China's micro-drama success.
"Several years ago, China was usually bringing over talent from Hollywood to China to learn from them. But now you have this interesting thing that's happening with vertical series, where vertical series started in China. And now people in America are trying to figure out: how can we copy this thing and make money off it? I think a lot of people are studying what's going on in China," he said.
Hollywood taking notes from China's micro-drama playbook: U.S. actor
