The FUMEI Youth Yingge team from Puning, Guangdong, performs yingge and dance during the“AI empowers, culture goes to sea” parade at the 4th Hong Kong International Cultural and Creative Expo.
The 4th Hong Kong International Cultural and Creative Expo, with the theme of“Chinese culture and foreign culture · Travel around the world intelligently”, has recently opened at the asiaworld-expo. This grand gathering of more than 2,000 exhibitors from more than 100 countries and regions around the world has set up an integrated platform for digital creativity, culture, tourism, audio-visual and intangible cultural heritage, spread Chinese cultural stories with both traditional charm and modern creativity, such as Huizhou fish lantern, Guizhou village T, Chaoshan Yingge and dance.
Ai empowers
As one of the core exhibition areas of this expo, China’s“Culture and Tourism Audiovisual” immersion exhibition, with the theme of“AI empowerment, culture going to sea”, has attracted a large number of visitors since its debut.
Curator ng Po-an said in an interview that the event takes“Technology as a bridge, Hong Kong as a window”, “Traditional heritage, modern expression”, and relies on Hong Kong’s unique advantages of blending eastern and western cultures, using AI technology to promote the lightweight international communication of high-quality cultural and tourism resources and intangible cultural heritage projects, endowing traditional culture with modern audio-visual language, and striving to break down language and cultural barriers, let overseas audiences understand and listen to Chinese culture, and truly love and identify with Chinese culture.
Hong Kong director Tong Ji-li shared his thoughts on Chinese culture overseas. He said that in order for Chinese films and culture to truly go to the world, it is necessary to solve the progressive communication problem of“Seeing, understanding and remembering”. With the help of AI technology, from the three dimensions of early development, international expression and IP connection, it can help chinese-themed content adapt to the global market quickly.
The first Hong Kong International AI Film Festival opened at the Expo on the same day, focusing on the innovative application of artificial intelligence technology in film creation, production and dissemination, it also explores“How technology is reshaping artistic expression” through industry forums, providing a window for film and television practitioners to engage in cross-border dialogue.
Intangible cultural heritage refreshed
The activation of intangible cultural heritage is one of the highlights of this expo. A number of intangible cultural heritage projects from the mainland have entered the stage with a vivid attitude, and many cases have been selected into the“Cultural circle-breaking innovation cases” released by the conference.
More than 20 dancers from the FUMEI Youth Yingge dance team from Puning, Guangdong province, marched on the drums, drawing cheers from the audience. The band has already performed in Thailand, Malaysia, Spain and Russia, and will perform in New York in July, according to Lee chun-ho, the band’s head coach. On the same day, Shanxi Changzhi School of culture and art will present“Jingwei culture” and“Shangdang clapper opera”.
Shenzhen Qiqiplayer Cultural Creativity Co. , Ltd. , with its Wenzhou boxwood carving skills that have been passed down for more than 200 years, joint Chinese Arts and Crafts Master Ye Mengchun, Jay Zhou official two dimensional IP“Zhou classmate” to develop a joint name Tide play series, in the first issue of the Expo. “We don’t want intangible cultural heritage to lie in museums. We want it to enter young people’s daily lives,” said the brand official, adding that the exhibition was an important step for the company to go global.
The Huizhou fish lantern, which was selected as a case of“Cultural Innovation”, shows a new way of thinking about cultural communication. Huizhou fish lantern is a folk custom of Huizhou intangible cultural heritage that has been passed down for thousands of years. Since 2025, the relevant short video has been viewed more than 4 billion times on the whole network, during the 2026 Spring Festival, the nine-day event attracted 1.574 million visitors. At present, Huangshan City has completed more than 300 pieces of fish lanterns related copyright registration, the development of derivatives over 1,000, but also launched a fish lantern production study courses.
Guizhou Village T, which is also a case of“Cultural Innovation”, takes Guizhou village as the stage, with Miao embroidery and silver jewelry skills as the core, to create a“Gu’axin” national costume show IP, the cultural symbols of 56 ethnic groups are presented on the catwalk, which has already appeared on the stage of CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the United Nations and International Fashion Week. Yang chunlin, the initiator of the project, said that in the future, Hong Kong will rely on its advantages as an international window to promote more ethnic cultures to the world.
Platform cohesion
This cultural fair is not only a display window, but also a collaborative platform for integrating resources. As the main forum of the fair, the forum with the theme of“Hong Kong: new opportunities for deepening sino-foreign cultural exchanges” was held in the Expo Hall. A signing ceremony was held at the same time, and the company reached cooperation with the Hong Kong Ballet, the China Central Academy of Fine Arts and other organizations.
The 10th Hong Kong cultural and Creative Industries Awards presentation ceremony and the asia-pacific cultural and creative industries forum were held during the Expo. In his speech, the Chairman of the award, Kwong chi-man, said that with the support from the government, Hong Kong could become an important window for creative output and cultural export.
At the same time, this expo will hold the first international short drama festival of“Drama China”, including the awarding ceremony of the“Huiguang Award”, the signing ceremony of industrial cooperation and the launching ceremony of the“Intangible Cultural Heritage Star River Project”, it shows the progress of national miniseries in the fields of international communication, cultural inheritance, AI innovation and high-quality creation. Nearly 50 head organizations and works have won a total of 13 awards.
Participants from all over the country are seeking new opportunities for development at the cultural fair: Deng biling, the sixth-generation inheritor of Yunnan Lace Enamel Paintings, debuted her Yi ethnic patterned paintings and Zodiac creations at the overseas exhibition for the first time, hope to use Hong Kong’s international platform to broaden the channels of business; Gansu Gangu County Xinsen State Agricultural Technology Co. , Ltd. brought“Gangu Wisp of red” apple, last year in the Hong Kong market has received a good response, ma Jianguo, a painter, took many freehand paintings of Taihang Mountains to the exhibition, hoping to pass on the unique cultural heritage and charm of Taihang Mountains to more audiences.
As the forum participants said, when technology improves the efficiency of communication, when tradition finds modern expression, and when cultural subjects are connected through the platform of Hong Kong, the path of Chinese culture to the sea is becoming clearer and clearer.