The China International Import Expo, or CIIE, held in East China's Shanghai on Nov 5-10, saw a sales bonanza in its cultural relics and art section, with 36 items sold for a whopping 365 million yuan ($50.4 million).

Since 2021, Shanghai Free Trade Zone International Culture Investment Development Co Ltd has been authorized to manage the cultural relics exhibition area at CIIE for four consecutive years.

The company has implemented a special policy that enables the display of significant international artworks by renowned artists such as Zhang Daqian, Fu Baoshi, Wu Guanzhong, Yayoi Kusama and even Monet and Marc Chagall.

From the fourth to sixth editions of CIIE, 39 exhibitors participated, resulting in 136 transactions worth 1.84 billion yuan.

With the support of various government departments, the company has also hosted the Shanghai Dialogue, a cultural event launched in 2015 that has become a key industry forum during the trade week. This event has now become an important cultural brand for Shanghai, and a major gathering for the relics and arts sector.

Over the past decade, the cultural sector of the Shanghai FTZ has developed a fast and efficient channel for the import and export of cultural relics, leveraging its policy and resource advantages.

Looking ahead, the Shanghai FTZ plans to strengthen its cultural trade, creative industries and cultural services. The goal is to facilitate transactions in cultural products and support the transformation of creative ideas into marketable products.

Over the next 10 years, the Shanghai FTZ aims to achieve a cumulative total value of 200 billion yuan in cultural relics imports and exports.