The 2026 China Culture and Tourism Industries Expo opened Thursday in north China's Tianjin Municipality, attracting more than 2,500 culture and tourism enterprises from 20 countries and regions.
The four-day event, hosted by China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has also drawn 10 international organizations and national-level industry associations.
Under the theme "Deepening Culture and Tourism Integration, Creating a Better Smart Life," the expo features 10 exhibition zones covering culture-tourism integration, emerging digital businesses, tourism equipment, international cooperation, local attractions, and consumer products.
Eighteen professional events are held, focusing on regional cooperation, industrial innovation, technology applications and culture-tourism consumption.
This year's expo will run through Sept 6.
China culture-tourism expo opens with over 2,500 exhibitors
China culture-tourism expo opens with over 2,500 exhibitors
With a unique unpredictability reflected in thin margins between victory and defeat, which thrills both athletes and audience on site, live sports can be a powerful way to inspire more people, especially the young, to take up sports for themselves, according to Chinese freestyle skiing star Gu Ailing.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) Thursday in Beijing, the three-time Olympic gold medalist shared her insights on how China can push forward its national fitness and sports development blueprint.
"Yeah, I think live sports in particular are really exciting because the kind of energy, I guess, of being in person and also having no idea of what's going to happen, the players included. So all of the athletes are kind of going through this experience with the audience. And there's kind of this 'give and take' of storytelling and the narrative there, I think, is really inspiring and uplifting in a particularly unique way. So I think for young people to get access to that and to really feel the environment can do a lot as far as pushing them to try sports out for themselves," Gu said.
China aims to expand its sports industry to more than seven trillion yuan (1.04 trillion U.S. dollars) by 2030 as part of a new five-year plan to build the country into a sports powerhouse, officials said Thursday.
The 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), approved by the State Council in July, also targets increasing per capita sports venue space to about four square meters and raising the proportion of residents who regularly exercise to around 40 percent, General Administration of Sport director Gao Zhidan told a State Council Information Office briefing.
Energy of live sports inspires young people to get involved: Olympic gold medalist
