Province showcases its innovative services at CIFTIS

By Yuan Shenggao (China Daily)

Updated: 2021-09-10

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A Shanxi company exhibits its health food during the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services. [Photo by Liu Tong for China Daily]

North China's Shanxi province showcased its innovative strength in service trade and related sectors during the recent China International Fair for Trade in Services, which was held in Beijing from Sept 2-7.

A total of 38 enterprises from Shanxi, engaged in the seven sectors of biomedicine, construction, transportation, information technology, cultural creativity, cultural tourism and smart manufacturing, displayed their services and products at the six-day fair.

To attract visitors' attention, the Shanxi pavilion was designed as an eye-catching showroom with a huge LED display showing the province's latest developments and business opportunities in various sectors.

According to videos shown on the display, Shanxi's service trade has witnessed rapid growth over recent years thanks to the wide use of the latest technologies like cloud computing, big data and new modes of operation such as e-commerce, digitalized logistics, cultural tourism and the integration of manufacturing and services.

At the fair, Shanxi's major flagship companies in the service industry, including Shanxi Cultural Tourism Group, Shanxi Cloud Era Technology and Huayuan International Land Port Group, attracted the attention of many visitors.

Huayuan International Land Port, for instance, displayed how it uses big data to serve businesses ranging from agriculture to international logistics.

At its showroom at the 2021 CIFTIS, a company executive was using a computer to help business visitors search for the market information of farm produce in Shanxi.

"Visitors can immediately obtain data about the prices and output of produce from Shanxi with the help of our big data system," said Liu Yanli, general manager of Yimutian Logistics, a branch of Huayuan.

"The big data system is only a part of our comprehensive trade service system, which has helped more than 30 million business clients in China and more than 20 foreign countries identify partners and make deals."

International logistics is the main business of Huayuan. It is the operator of the China-Europe freight train service in Shanxi.

Kang Lei, board chairman of the cross-border e-commerce business at Huayuan, said the 2021 CIFTIS offered a venue for the company to display its international logistics and trade platform powered by digital and intelligent technologies, and created an opportunity for Huayuan to exchange with its partners.

At the exhibition area for Shanxi's creative culture, a number of companies displayed their products inspired by the traditional culture of Shanxi.

Baixiaoling Dough Sculpture was among the exhibitors. Its boss Bai Xiaoling is a fourth-generation inheritor of the dough sculpture art, which is on Shanxi's list of intangible heritage.

"By making dough sculptures on-site, we have secured an increasing number of orders, especially for the forthcoming Mid-Autumn Festival," Bai said. "There are even orders from New Zealand."

Many business visitors to the Shanxi pavilion said that its exhibits offered them a chance to learn about the province's history and business environment, and they hope to have long-term cooperation with Shanxi.

Wang Pei contributed to this story.