On September 2nd, the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) opened in Beijing under the theme "Opening up Leads Development, Cooperation Delivers the Future". As one of the "Two Sites and One Meeting" of CIFTIS, Shougang Park has once again become the global focus by virtue of its unique industrial style and garden landscape. As of 18:00 on September 3rd, a total of 199,084 people had entered the park, among whom 105,000 entered on the first day of CIFTIS, setting a new single-day record.

This is the third consecutive year in which Shougang Park has hosted special exhibitions, forums, conferences and other activities of CIFTIS. After hosting CIFTIS for the past two years, as well as hosting the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, Shougang has comprehensively improved the quality of the park with higher standards, higher requirements and higher quality, and created Version 3.0 of Shougang's service guarantee work for CIFTIS, providing tourists and exhibitors with a warmer and more comfortable experience. The characteristics of Shougang Park CIFTIS Version 3.0 can be summarized as "three improvements", "three optimizations" and "three innovations", namely the improvement of the green landscape, improvement of road traffic conditions and improvement of supporting services, making the environment of the exhibition area more beautiful, traffic conditions more convenient and the visitor experience more comfortable; the optimization of equipment and facilities, optimization of space and optimization of configurations, making the operation more efficient, layout more reasonable and service guarantee more secure; and the innovative presentation of Blast Furnace No. 1 SoReal Metaverse Paradise, innovative upgrading of Hall 10 and innovative construction of the Smart Operation Center, making the science fiction elements richer, immersive experience more intense and management services smarter.

The red line area of Shougang Park for this year’s CIFTIS covers an area of 460,000 m2, including an exhibition area of 117,000 m2 encompassing 15 venues and one blast furnace. The exhibition is divided into nine themed sections, namely Cultural Tourism Services, Health and Hygiene Services, Education Services, Supply Chain and Business Services, Sports Services, Financial Services, Telecommunications, Computer and Information Services, Engineering Consulting and Construction Services, and Environmental Services, as well as an innovative service feature exhibition experience area.

"Compared with last year, parking is more convenient. Along the way, we quickly found a parking lot under the guidance of the signs," said Mr. Liu, who had just arrived at the South Entrance Hall. "Shougang Park is so beautiful. I used to see it in pictures. I was astonished to come to the place itself today. The organic integration of industrial relics and modern exhibitions is displayed here incisively and vividly."

The South Entrance Hall of this year’s CIFTIS is located on the north side of the new Shougang Bridge. After entering from the entrance hall, the first thing that catches your eye is the Cultural Tourism Services Special Exhibition Area comprising Hall 1 and Hall 2. With a total exhibition scale of 14,700 m2, it is themed "Science and Technology Empower New Cultural Tourism, Creativity Leads New Consumption" and displays the important achievements of high-quality cultural industry development in Beijing in recent years. In terms of exhibition forms, each exhibitor has their own unique ideas, making full use of the digital immersive experience space, naked-eye 3D, VR, AR and other high-tech digital exhibition means to make the exhibition content more 3D and vivid. At the same time, during the exhibition period, nearly 200 artistic performances, lecture salons, interactive experiences and other activities will be held in the exhibition hall.

Mr. Wang from Xi'an excitedly told the reporter, "I’m a practitioner in the cultural tourism service industry. Visiting CIFTIS this time is a learning process for me and I’ve gained a lot. The Cultural Tourism Services Exhibition Area is large, and the categories displayed are also very complete. The display content not only reflects the cultural characteristics of cultural tourism, but also tends to be more scientific and digital, which is very close to the forefront of the times. At the same time, what shocked me a lot is the combination of Shougang industrial heritage and modern exhibitions, and this is a perfect display case of cultural tourism services."

The adjacent Hall 3 is the Health and Hygiene Services Special Exhibition Area. With a total exhibition scale of 7,700 m2, it has three exhibition areas, namely the Core Public Welfare Exhibition Area, High-Tech Enterprise Exhibition Area and Traditional Chinese Medicine Exhibition Area, focusing on high-quality development achievements in the fields of health and hygiene services such as public health services, biomedical innovation, digital and intelligent medical care, intelligent health care and traditional Chinese medicine. At the same time, activities such as forums, new product launches, public welfare activities, demand docking, achievement promotions and agreement signings are being held.

Hall 4, Hall 13 and Hall 15 comprise the Supply Chain and Business Services Special Exhibition Area which has three sections, namely Business Services, Supply Chain Transportation and Time-honored Brands, with one hall for each section. Among them, Hall 4 is the Business Services section which has an exhibition scale of 3,300 m2 and exhibition areas such as Legal Services, Human Resources Services and other key business services displaying new products, business types and models in the business services industry. For the first time, The Belt and Road International Lawyers Association (BRILA), the first international lawyer organization to be registered in China, and representative offices of law firms from Hong Kong in the Chinese Mainland were invited to participate in the Legal Services Exhibition Area, further demonstrating the good image and professional strength of China's foreign-related legal service institutions.

Hall 13 is the Supply Chain Transportation section which has an exhibition scale of 3,150 m2. Themed "Transporting Everything All Over the World by Smart Supply Chain", a "1+2+1" activity mode, namely one main exhibition area, two digital interactive experience areas (Beijing Special MaaS Zone and Smart Driving Training Test Drive Zone) and one supporting activity (MaaS Innovation and Development Forum), has been set up in the exhibition area. Large-scale logistics platforms and equipment manufacturing enterprises in international shipping, international air transport and road transport are participating in the exhibition, and four special zones, namely the Special "MaaS" Zone, Special Express Service Zone, Special Transportation Zone and Special Supply Chain Zone of Other Provinces and Cities, have been set up to display the intelligent transportation ecology, including automatic driving, vehicle-road coordination, rail transit, civil aviation and shipping.

Hall 15 is the Innovation and Development Experience Zone of Time-honored Brands in Beijing, and this is the third time that time-honored brands have appeared at CIFTIS. This year, the old-fashioned exhibition area achieved three "firsts": the image of a time-honored brand in Beijing was displayed in the form of a special exhibition at CIFTIS for the first time; the time-honored brand portfolio matrix is displayed in the form of enterprise groups for the first time; and a market-oriented mechanism was introduced to hold exhibitions under the guidance of the government and the leadership of the market in order to stimulate the vitality of the time-honored brand market for the first time. The time-honored brand exhibition area has been one of the most popular exhibition areas of CIFTIS in recent years. The cleverly laid out open exhibition area combines the unique characteristics of industrial heritage with the rich cultural deposits of "time-honored brands", prompting tourists to slow down and immerse themselves in it.

Hall 5 is the Education Services Special Exhibition Area which has an exhibition scale of 6,600 m2. The exhibition is themed "Leading the Future with High-quality Education - Developing New Paths and New Impetus for Development". It comprehensively displays new technologies, new achievements, new scenes and new business types of educational services in three aspects: international exchanges and regional cooperation, artificial intelligence and technological empowerment, and educational services and practice innovation. At the same time, forum meetings, promotion and negotiation, cooperation signing, achievement release, literature and art performances, and other activities will be held in the exhibition area.

"This year, the supporting facilities of Shougang Park are more perfect and complete, especially the increase in the number of toilets. They are basically available near each venue, which is particularly convenient," said Ms Xue from Chaoyang District.

Hall 6 and Hall 7 comprise the Sports Services Special Exhibition Area which has a total exhibition scale of 13,200 m2. The four highlights of "internationalization, specialization, industrialization and technicalization" are presented in six sections: Smart Sports Services, Ice and Snow Sports Services, Sports Consumption Services, Sports Equipment Manufacturing Services, Sports Event Services and Sports Integration Services. The exhibition contents comprehensively cover nine major categories of sports services. At the same time, more than ten forum meetings and supporting activities will be held in the exhibition area.

Mr. Chen, who was experiencing the rowing machine, told the reporter, "I usually love exercising. There are so many kinds of sports events at this year’s CIFTIS such as spinning, rowing machines, kart racing and sailing boats. I can't help but experience them."

Hall 8 and Hall 9 comprise the Financial Services Special Exhibition Area which has an exhibition scale of over 14,400 m2. Themed "Serving Entities Adhering to their Initial Intentions, Innovating and Changing Towards the Future", eight exhibition areas are set up, namely Finance in a Big Country, Capital Finance, Open Finance, Green Finance, Digital Finance, Inclusive Finance, Regional Finance and Wealth Management, to fully display the latest development achievements in the financial sector. At the same time, during the exhibition, activities such as 2023 China International Finance Annual Forum and 2023 Global PE Forum will be held, as well as a series of supporting activities such as the iFinance Future Life Show, e-CNY Avenue 3.0 and Finance for the People.

Hall 10 and Hall 11 comprise the Telecommunications, Computer and Information Services Special Exhibition Area which has a total exhibition scale of 17,150 m2. Hall 10 is the Metaverse Application Themed Pavilion which has four special areas, namely the Innovation Publishing Area, Digital Art Area, Game Experience Area and Safety Education Themed Area, which offers the AR Experience Space, AI Intelligent Interactive Virtual Launch Conference, Holographic Technology Hall and VR Game Experience. Visitors can feast their eyes and enjoy the ultimate immersive experience.

Hall 11 is the Communication and Digital Technology Themed Pavilion. This year, the five core telecom enterprises of China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom, China Broadnet and China Tower gathered for the first time to fully display the industrial development status after the convergence of three networks in China.

Ms. Liu from Haidian District told the reporter, "This is my third visit to CIFTIS. The exhibition this year is richer and more scientific in contents than before. For a tech buff like me, my favorite is Hall 10 in which there are AR, VR and AI experience areas everywhere. I stayed in the hall for an hour."

Hall 12 is the Engineering Consulting and Construction Services Special Exhibition Area. Themed "Intelligent Construction and Green Development", it has two major areas, namely the Industry Exhibition Area and Enterprise Exhibition Area, where new ideas, new technologies, new products and innovative engineering examples of China's construction industry are centrally displayed with "industrialization, green development and intelligence" as the core against the backdrop of "peak carbon and carbon neutrality".

Hall 14 is the Environmental Services Special Exhibition Area which has a total exhibition scale of 10,900 m2. There are exhibition areas on Low-carbon Energy, Climate and Carbon Economy, Carbon Neutrality and Green Technology, Circular Economy, Future Science and Technology Travel, etc., bringing together many Chinese and foreign enterprises to display the latest achievements and technology applications in the field of global environmental services in every direction and many fields. At the same time, forum meetings and promotion and negotiation activities will also be held around hot topics such as peak carbon and carbon neutrality, "dual carbon goals" empowering industry development, carbon trading, green cities, etc. in the exhibition area, highlighting the new achievements and breakthroughs made by China on the journey to achieving "peak carbon and carbon neutrality".

Mr. Wang, who was taking photos next to the coke oven, said, "The whole of Shougang Park has a very beautiful environment, especially the industrial relics as the background. It looks very beautiful and cool in photos taken from any angle! I especially like the open space exhibition halls like Hall 14 and Hall 15. There are snacks from time-honored brands and Shougang Special Restaurant next to it. I enjoy watching the exhibition under the blue sky and next to green spaces while tasting the food!"

CIFTIS is still in full swing in Shougang Park, which is constantly playing the leading role of CIFTIS in regional development, brand introduction and consumption promotion, continuously empowering new industries, new scenes and new consumption, promoting the high-quality development of Shougang Park and making every effort to join "Together for a Shared Future" to create a new landmark of urban rejuvenation.