Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, has made great strides in promoting the integrated development of the cultural industry and other sectors, including science and technology, tourism and innovation.

The city is producing a guideline for the development of its cultural industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), the city's publicity department said. The guideline will feature the city's ice-and-snow-themed cultural tourism and its booming innovation industry, the department said.

"Harbin is a city with substantial historical and cultural resources," said Gu Jiang, head of the guideline's compilation team and deputy director of the National Cultural Industry Research Center at Nanjing University in Jiangsu province.

The Harbin Opera Hall is a landmark building in the city. Provided to China Daily

"Such cultural elements as ice and snow sightseeing, European-style architecture and food, and revolutionary traditions have become the city's calling cards," Gu said.

The city pavilion, with a setting featuring ice and snow, attracted a lot of attention from visitors to the 12th China International Cultural Industries Fair, which was held in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, from May 12 to 16.
Four musicians performed a quartet at the pavilion's launch on May 12, while calligraphers created impromptu works.

"I never expected to hear such classical music at an exhibition hall," said Chen Jinghe, an exhibitor at the fair. "That amazing performance showed Harbin has good taste in music."

Electronic panels displaying the details of the Harbin New Area attracted flocks of visitors.

The State Council approved the new area, the 16th national new area in China, in December last year. It is the country's first and only zone focusing on China-Russian cooperation, as Heilongjiang province shares a 3,000-kilometer border with Russia.

With the geographic advantage of bordering such countries as Russia, Mongolia and South Korea, the new area will be able to promote the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the development of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor. This in turn will boost the development of the city's cultural and innovative industries, said an official from the city government who declined to be named.

Wu Guosheng, a businessman from Macao, said, "We pay great attention to the new area's planning and priorities for development. I will do some research on potential business opportunities in the area."

The pavilion also displayed in public for the first time several innovative products invented by local university students.

Guo Zhiyi, a sophomore at Heilongjiang University, said it took more than a year for his team to develop a holographic technology that can simulate the shapes of well-known buildings, including the Saint Sophia Cathedral, in Harbin.
Guo said more than 20 agreements for cooperation have been signed.

At the booth set up by students from the Art and Design School of Harbin University, innovative products, including murals and lacquer paintings of Harbin's scenery, as well as calligraphy works, became the focus of visitors' attention. Many visitors bought products at the booth.

In the next five years, the city will focus on the development of three industrial clusters - fashion and innovation, cultural production, and cultural service. It will establish industrial chains that will generate high added values, said Sun Jianwei, an official from the city's publicity office.

To achieve these goals, the city will have to address the problem of a brain drain, said Gao Binjian, deputy director of the city's Development Research Center. "Any rapid development of an industry cannot be achieved without a strong talent pool," he said.

Harbin will work out measures to create a sound environment for talented people and provide incentives for them to stay until the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan period in 2020, according to city government officials.

Part of the building's interior. Provided to China Daily