On July 9, the “China Horse Town” second Hebei Cultural Creative and Tourism Commodity Creative Design Competition- - Cultural Creative Design Salon ( Qinhuangdao Station ) was successfully held in Sino-Swedish Design Park. The experts in the field of design and culture were organized to share activities and live online synchronously. On-site lectures and visits were given to Qinhuangdao cultural and tourism enterprises. Online synchronous live broadcast was conducted to deeply understand the current situation of local cultural and tourism, focus on the pulse, and use design methods to help the development of Qinhuangdao cultural and creative.

There are 9,000 people watching this online live salon. Meng Yulong, general manager of Sino-Swedish design park, Liu Weishang, director of visual communication design department of art and design college of Yanshan University, and Liu Mengyu, general manager of Tourism Commodity and Equipment Branch of China Tourism Association / Qinhuangdao Yunwei Culture Communication Co., Ltd. share the theme respectively. Starting from the life scene, they revealed the influence of consumption upgrading on the future development of cultural and tourism industry, described the difficulties and solutions of current cultural and creative design, and taught the practical path of design empowering cultural and tourism industry.

01 Collision of Multiple Thoughts to Promote the Development of Cultural and Creative Industry

The innovation road of design + cultural tourism

Sino-Swedish Design Park is located in the charming coastal city of Qinhuangdao, where tourism resources are rich and cultural industry is prosperous. General Manager Meng Yulong has integrated many cultural elements into the park. He said that tourism without culture is a shell without soul. In his experience, design makes cultural creation and tourism have a deeper connection, and the park provides a platform for them. On this platform, there are design resources from the world to help local culture research and development of cultural and creative goods. Finally, through the market built in the park to transform, this chain promotes the healthy development of the park. 

The general manager Meng Yulong also said that the park should serve the local industry, consolidate the foundation of the park development, and adhere to the introduction and going out. No matter how colorful the local culture is, its value cannot be realized without spreading out. The development of the cultural and creative industry must not rest on its laurels. Going global and we can learn from each other and extend the life cycle of local cultural and creative industries.

Future-oriented cultural innovation retail model and practice

Teacher Liu Weishang mentioned a few key words, namely "cultural and tourism integration", "cultural creativity and design" and "new retail". Culture drives the spread of tourism, and tourism without culture is pale. Simple integration cannot be called cultural creation. Cultural creation requires a professional design team to participate. In this process, designers have the responsibility and obligation to inherit culture. How to get more people to buy these cultural and creative products through multiple channels requires us to apply new retail methods to break through online and on-site barriers, which can not only minimize costs, but also achieve nationwide circulation.

Resident consumption upgrades, personalization and customization have become consumption trends in the new era. The tertiary industry and social consumption continue to increase, and a good macro environment helps new consumption. Teacher Liu Weishang mentioned that according to the current situation, we need to accelerate the application of digital technology in more occasions, improve the quality and efficiency of the new consumption chain, use the Internet to reshape the consumption industry chain, and change the traditional habits of producers and consumers. The development of cultural and creative industries must be a process of advancing with the times. Designers must participate to help the rise of Chinese cultural brands. It is believed that in the near future, tourism will no longer be a revelation of watching, but a display of profound cultural connotations.

Cultural creativity activates traditional industries

When an industry loses its creativity, it also loses its vitality. Old things can not arouse young people's desire to consume. How to make use of cultural creativity to help traditional industries to revitalize? Let’s listen to Ms. Liu Mengyu’s speech.

Ms. Liu Mengyu said: “People need a better life and goods to make life better.” The abundance of material makes people pursue a higher aesthetic, and products without innovation will inevitably be eliminated. Many times we eat exquisite breakfast not only for the stomach, but also for the good mood to open the day. This is the upgrade of consumption. What we design is not just a commodity, but a scene of life. Caring about the beauty of the work, but ignoring the practicality, it will eventually become a dusty vase. It is a work of art, and cannot be a commodity that enters thousands of households.

All of Ms. Liu Mengyu's works are not divorced from "beauty" and "life scene". Good-looking and practical are her original intentions. The integration of culture adds connotation to Liu Mengyu's work, and the addition of creativity makes the work suitable for modern life, and truly realizes the combination of ideal and reality. It not only activates traditional industries, but also forms marketization and promotes the development of regional industrialization. Ms. Liu Mengyu ended with one sentence, "Cultural and creative products enhance the value of the original industry and form a road to brand cultivation."

Online audience questioning

Q

Nowadays, many traditional industries are slowly being forgotten, such as shadow puppetry. There are still many traditional industries that are not well known. How can China’s traditional industries be inherited through cultural creative design? 

Liu Mengyu: There is only one way, and that is innovation. The era is constantly progressing and developing. The survival of the fittest and innovation can make traditional culture adapt to the development of modern society. The culture that has always existed in life will not be forgotten.

Q

Cultural, creative and cultural tourism projects across the country are blooming everywhere. However, with the rapid development, it is more and more difficult to find the style differences of each project. How do you find your own unique style positioning in the early stage, and what new breakthrough points do you have in design? How to treat the homogeneity of cultural and tourism commercial projects?

Liu Weishang: First, the government must support relevant cultural and creative research and development activities to find local characteristics; second, designers must have higher requirements on themselves, have a pair of eyes that are good at observing life, and make cultural and creative products out of nothingness and become real existing life.

Q

Can the model of Sino-Swedish Design Park be replicated in other regions ? 

Meng Yulong : Success cannot be replicated, but failure can be replicated. We should build parks based on local market advantages rather than copy them.

02 The city has a deep cultural heritage, and the creative industries are blooming

On the afternoon of July 9, Yan Shi, Deputy Director of Hebei Industrial Design Innovation Center, Liu Jiaqi, General Manager of Hebei RITO Industrial Design Co., Ltd., Hua Shuai, Marketing Manager of Hebei RITO Industrial Design Co., Ltd., and General Manager of Hebei BEAM ON  Industrial Design Co., Ltd., and other representatives of design institutions walked into the Xigang Garden and the Great Wall Museum to learn about the development of Qinhuangdao culture.

Xigang Garden covers an area of 1,200 acres and was transformed from the old site in the Xigang District of Qinhuangdao Port. It is a comprehensive industrial park integrating cultural exhibitions, high-end weddings, leisure and entertainment, accommodation and catering, camp education and business office. The main landscape of the garden is redesigned and transformed from the abandoned equipment and facilities of the port. There is not only a unique industrial atmosphere and profound heritage, but also full of fashion flavor of the harbor.

Liu Jiaqi, general manager of Hebei RITO Industrial Design Co., Ltd., is very interested in the transformation of the old area. He analyzed that this protective innovation not only continues the urban culture, but also adapts to the life needs of contemporary people. You can experience the culture during sightseeing. This method can be used for reference by other old districts.

The Great Wall Museum of China displays the basic context of the Great Wall’s emergence and development, the military defense functions and systems of the Great Wall, the major battles that took place inside and outside the Great Wall in history, and the architectural structure and layout of the Great Wall. As of 2019, the Great Wall Museum of China has more than 2500 sets of cultural relics, mainly ironware, masonry, ceramics and coins. The sources of the collection are mainly collection, unearthed, donated, etc. Representative collections include: Sacred Cannon, Door Lock, Bronze Fire Gun, Title Stele in the 11th Year of Wanli, World Cultural Heritage Certificate, etc.

During the visit, the general manager of Hebei BEAM ON Industrial Design Co., Ltd. walked through each collection carefully. He said that each collection is a piece of history. They should not only exist in these glass shelves, but should become cultural creations. The product allows more people to understand the Great Wall culture and the great journey of the Chinese nation.

Yan Shi, deputy director of Hebei Industrial Design Innovation Center, agrees with Lu Cheng’s view. He believes that dissemination can make a long-standing culture "live", and cultural and creative works have this function. Good cultural and creative works can not only extend the life cycle of culture, but also give it more significance of the times.

In today's era, cultural "soft power" has increasingly become an important part of a city's comprehensive strength. In the final analysis, improving cultural "soft power" is to enhance the competitiveness of cultural and creative industries. In the cultural market, the final decision depends on the competitiveness of the cultural and creative industries. More importantly, with the accelerated development of economic culture, cultural economicization, and economic and cultural integration, cultural and creative industries have increasingly become an important part of advanced productivity, and cultural "soft power" has increasingly become An important part of economic "hard power". Whether it is to enhance the "hard power" of the economy or the "soft power" of culture, the cultural and creative industries are inseparable.