2026 Hangzhou Cultural and Creative Industry Expo will run from November 5 to 9. On the afternoon of October 20, the organizing committee held a meeting in Hangzhou to review progress on preparations and set out tasks for the next stage.

Since 2007, the Expo has been held 19 times, serving as a key platform for showcasing the latest achievements of Hangzhou’s cultural industry and a bridge for international exchange and cooperation in the cultural sector. It has become a standout cultural calling card for the city and one of China’s major comprehensive cultural expos. Hangzhou’s cultural industry, meanwhile, has charged ahead on a wave of innovation and creativity, leaping from the hundred-billion-yuan level to the trillion-yuan mark and becoming one of the city's key pillar industries.

This November 5 to 9, the Expo will celebrate its 20th birthday. Hosted by the city’s government, Zhejiang University, and the China Academy of Art, and jointly organized by the Publicity Department of the CPC Hangzhou Municipal Committee, Hangzhou Cultural and Creative Industry Development Center, and Hangzhou High-Tech Zone (Binjiang) Management Committee, this year’s Expo, themed “Creative Hangzhou, Connected World,” and with a slogan “Powering What’s Next!,” will focus on three main threads—the “new three” cultural products, culture plus technology, and culture plus consumption—to showcase new trends, directions, and ecosystems in the cultural industry under the influence of artificial intelligence.

The main venue will be at the Baimahu International Expo Center, featuring five themed halls: Imagining a New Future, Empowering New Consumption, Riding the Wave with New Youth, Experiencing New Tourism, and Sensing a New Life. The entrance hall will host two special zones: one reviewing 20 years of high-quality development in Hangzhou’s cultural industry, and the other offering a panoramic view of the city’s “new three” cultural industry clusters. Sub-venues will be set up across districts, counties, and county-level cities, as well as at Hangzhou International Expo Center, China Animation Museum, and other cultural venues.

At the meeting, preparations for the Expo were reported to ensure that all the logistics are in place. As of now, preparations for the 20th Expo, including curation, exhibition setup, forums, and sub-venues, are in full swing and progressing smoothly overall.