Something for everyone: Season caters to all tastes in Beijing

As an innovative platform for trading and showcasing new cultural products and services, the 11th Beijing People Beneficial Cultural Consumption Season combines the unique characteristics of the capital with performing arts, cultural creativity, literary pursuits, entertainment, recreation and art, while stimulating market vitality and boosting consumer confidence.

As a key part of this year's event, Time Music Concert held recently at Beijing's Drum Tower brought the audience a six-hour immersive audiovisual feast covering traditional Kunqu Opera, folk songs, Chinese-style folk music, choral performances, traditional Chinese instruments, piano, guitar, and classical and Western music.

"The consumption season is an innovative practice and exploration to broaden cultural consumption channels through a market-oriented approach," said Zhao Enguo, deputy director of the State-owned Cultural Assets Administration Center of Beijing Municipality.

Under the model of "government guidance, market operation, collaborative coordination and benefiting the people and enterprises", the consumption season taps into diverse resources, offers new application scenarios and has evolved into a nationally influential brand in the field of cultural consumption.

Established in 2013, the Beijing consumption season serves as an example of cultural industry development in China with a cumulative attendance of 980 million people, a total consumption exceeding 110 billion yuan ($15.7 billion) and cumulative benefits of 48 billion yuan.

This year, an art festival, themed "City of Art — Digital Era, Integration and Symbiosis", was premiered during the consumption season. Centered on the concept of integration, the festival collaborates with art galleries, exhibition halls, auction houses, craft art enterprises, and organizations for cultural creative products, as well as industrial parks, bringing art to the streets and communities and creating an inclusive atmosphere for artistic consumption that benefits everyone.

Huo Wen, chief planner of this year's consumption season, said: "The market represents small and micro-economies and its significance lies not in generating high economic profits but in providing more opportunities for outstanding businesses to meet consumers, enriching lives, giving consumers more experiences and vitalizing the art market."

Statistics show that the art festival attracted a cumulative audience of 38,000 people, with a total consumption of about 1.83 million yuan and total benefits of around 200,000 yuan.

Featuring unique markets, fashion trends and expos as new sections of this year's consumption season, the Cool Beijing segment engages with emerging economic hot spots such as sports, the pet economy, business districts, nightlife, beauty economy and entertainment, adding new impetus to cultural consumption.

The consumption season has leveraged 45 million yuan in government financial subsidies, serving as a catalyst to encourage society and businesses to increase their efforts in cultural outreach. They have carried out various initiatives such as discounts, freebies, coupons and reward-based activities.

From July to October, the consumption season focuses on various fields including cultural creative products, artistic performances, radio, film and online entertainment platforms, as well as new cultural consumption formats. It has joined hands with online book and magazine sales platforms, bookstores, theaters, cinemas, art centers, scenic spots and other market entities to offer 209 activities for readers, art enthusiasts, performing arts and film lovers, and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages.

wangjinhui@chinadaily.com.cn