Guest
Zhang Zhong
Interview Background
The year 2026 marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period. At this new stage of development, how will Jing'an commit to its goal of "International Jing'an: An Outstanding Urban Area" and play a leading role in and contribute to Shanghai's "Five Centers" initiative?
Host:
The year 2026 marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period. At this new stage of development, how will Jing'an commit to its goal of "International Jing'an: An Outstanding Urban Area" and play a leading role in and contribute to Shanghai's "Five Centers" initiative? In this interview, we have invited Zhang Zhong, Level II Division Rank Official of the Jing'an District Bureau of Culture and Tourism and Zhang Jijun, Dean of the Institute of Shanghai Hualue Think Tank Group, to discuss core goals of culture and tourism development in the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the clustering of cultural and creative industries, the creation of new urban cultural tourism consumption scenarios and business formats, and the high-quality development of public culture.
Zhang Zhong:
Hello, host. Hello, everyone.
Zhang Jijun:
Hello, host. Hello, everyone.
Host:
We understand that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Jing'an's culture and tourism sector will align with the Outline of Jing'an District's 15th Five-Year Plan. It will strive to build a high-quality core district of a socialist international cultural metropolis, a national pilot zone for high-quality public cultural services, and an influential cluster zone of cultural and creative industries. It aims to create a "Jing'an Model" and provide "Jing'an Support" for Shanghai to join the "first echelon" of global international cultural metropolises. Could you tell us how Jing'an will fully build a highland for cultural development in the next five years?
Zhang Zhong:
Certainly. Over the next five years, Jing'an will build six major cultural development highlands. The first is a model highland for inheriting and promoting revolutionary culture. Jing'an will strive to build itself into a model highland for inheriting and promoting revolutionary culture with the influence of an international cultural metropolis. The second is a leading highland for public cultural services. By 2030, Jing'an will maintain city-leading indicators in per capita public cultural service area and service visits, with an annual average of 8,000 performances for public welfare art popularization. The third is a practical highland for the protection and revitalization of cultural heritage. Jing'an will form a sustainable pattern for the organic revitalization of cultural relics and the dynamic inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. The fourth is an innovative highland for the new-quality development of cultural and creative industries. By 2030, Jing'an's cultural and creative industry revenue is targeted to reach RMB 150 billion, with ultra-high-definition audio-visual content output exceeding 10,000 hours. The fifth is a brand highland for integrated cultural tourism and fashion consumption. Jing'an will launch a batch of influential cultural tourism brands and iconic cultural landmarks. The sixth is an open highland for international cultural exchanges and communication. Jing'an will strengthen support for cultural resource aggregation, international talent exchanges, and global communication channels to effectively present the "Jing'an Story" to a wider audience.
Host:
Thanks for your introduction. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Jing'an will focus on advantageous industries and foster new-quality development. Could you give us some specifics on these key industries?
Zhang Zhong:
We focus on four advantageous industries: film and television production, gaming and esports, performing arts, and creative design. In film and television production, centered on technology empowerment, scenario integration, and content economy, we will accelerate the development of an "AI + Audio-Visual" content innovation hub, advance the construction of the "Audiovisual Realm of Jing'an" Shanghai Ultra-High-Definition Audiovisual Industrial Cluster, and strengthen, supplement, and extend the ultra-high-definition audiovisual industrial chain. In gaming and esports, we will improve the industrial system, build an integrated "events–consumption–social interaction" ecosystem, advance the "Esports Park" project, attract high-level tournaments, and create "second screens" for esports events to form immersive, social, and diversified consumption scenarios. In performing arts, in conjunction with urban renewal, we will build new multi-functional immersive performing arts venues, develop the "Shanghai Circus World Performing Arts Cluster" and "Shanghai Theatre Academy Performing Arts Cluster," bring in world-class IPs like Arcane, and launch more new immersive sci-tech performing arts scenarios featuring playability and consumability. In creative design, we will speed up the development of the Suzhou Creek "Global Youth Energy Center," support the construction of the new fashion school of Shanghai University of Engineering Science, help local designer brands integrate into the global value chain, and promote collaboration between top international brands and local original creators.
Host:
Thanks for your introduction. Let's turn to Jing'an's new cultural landmarks. Based on the spatial layout of "Two Developmental Axes with One Gathering Zone and Three Areas," what are the cultural tourism development plans?
Zhang Zhong:
The West Nanjing Road–Suzhou Creek Bay Central Vitality Zone, where historical charm and international style converge most deeply, will drive the integration of culture, commerce, tourism, sports, and exhibitions. We will strengthen city cultural brands such as the Shanghai · Jing'an Modern Drama Valley and the "Shanghai Theatre Academy Performing Arts Cluster." Along the Jing'an section of Suzhou Creek, we will build a "Youth Energy Block" integrating art exhibitions, digital creativity, trend consumption, and fashion design. The Daning Production-Life-Ecology Integrated Innovation Zone will focus on cutting-edge fields, including film and television production, ultra-high-definition audio-visual, e-sports and gaming, new performing arts, and fashion consumption, combining high-level development, high-quality consumption, and diverse urban functions. We will further integrate the cultural and commercial ecosystems of Daning Park, Daning Theatre, and surrounding business districts, and advance the development of the "Shanghai Circus World Performing Arts Cluster." The Shibei International Sci-tech Innovation Community will leverage industrial clustering to build a closed-loop path for deep integration of culture and technology. We will transform industrial heritage into "cultural creative + sci-tech innovation" hubs such as Ximalaya Land, and strengthen the ultra-high-definition audio-visual industrial chain based on the Shibei Meta-Space platform.
Zhang Jijun:
We will integrate the core resources and unique strengths of each zone, guide the orderly flow of cultural elements along the axes and belt, and precisely build new cultural landmarks.
Zhang Zhong:
Exactly. Over the next five years, Jing'an will take urban renewal as the starting point and cultural experience as the core to empower regional development with cultural relic protection achievements. Key initiatives include upgrading exhibitions at the Shanghai Sihang Warehouse Battle Memorial, the Memorial of the Second National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and other cultural venues; unveiling the renovated East Zone of Zhang Yuan; further developing and functional upgrading of historical and cultural blocks such as North Shaanxi Road (a Chinese historical and cultural street) and Yuyuan Road; deepening the value of "From Yu Yuan to Yuyuan Road" to elevate it from a geographic landmark to a cultural IP; and protecting and utilizing industrial heritage sites, including Suzhou Creek and the former sites of Blower Factory, Pengpu Machine Building Plant, and Xinzhong Power Machine Factory, to create living exhibition areas of industrial civilization.
Zhang Jijun:
We will establish a comprehensive, systematic, and integrated system for the protection and utilization of cultural heritage. This framework redefines preservation as a dynamic process, ensuring that both cultural relics and intangible traditions evolve through diligent safeguarding and continuously renew themselves through creative innovation. Through technology empowerment, revitalization, and public participation, we will shift cultural relic protection and utilization from "static preservation" to "dynamic inheritance."
Host:
To strengthen cultural empowerment, how will Jing'an foster an integrated ecosystem of culture, commerce, tourism, sports, and exhibitions?
Zhang Zhong:
Throughout the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), Jing'an will focus on core functions such as performing arts, cultural exhibitions, and cultural festivals. We will continue to nurture influential cultural brand IPs, build a 24/7 integrated ecosystem of culture, commerce, tourism, sports, and exhibitions, develop new smart tourism business formats, and boost fashion consumption. On one hand, we will use culture to create new all-region consumption scenarios, build a city festival matrix with "new themes every month and events year-round," and foster new integrated urban cultural tourism business formats combining culture, experience, and consumption. We will enhance the global influence of cultural brand events, promote cross-border integration of cultural and creative markets, art exhibitions, intangible cultural heritage experiences, and other business formats. Linked with the "Artistic Suzhou Creek" Performance Season, we will guide visitors to galleries, exhibition halls, and theaters to drive secondary consumption conversion and value extension. On the other hand, we will leverage fashion leadership to advance the construction of a demonstration district for International Consumption Center City. We will continue to host high-level platforms such as the China Annual Trends Summit, vigorously develop the debut economy, night economy, and digital economy, deepen "AI + consumption," and connect all-region consumption through cultural tourism routes to enrich commercial business formats.
Zhang Jijun:
Jing'an has long been committed to building a core carrier of Shanghai as the International Consumption Center City, and consumption has been a key engine of Jing'an's economy. As consumption gains greater strategic importance, we see strong synergy between Jing'an's cultural tourism development and consumption, achieving deep integration of culture, commerce, tourism, sports, and exhibitions.
Host:
Jing'an has long ranked among the top in Shanghai in per capita public cultural service area and service visits. How will it expand its development boundaries in the next five years to brighten residents' lives with public cultural services?
Zhang Zhong:
Jing'an will build on this strength, exploring complementary and mutually reinforcing "public welfare + market" models to expand the boundaries of public cultural services. We will encourage and attract all sectors of society to participate in public cultural services, realizing a strategic upgrade from "enriching life" to "empowering development." We will build a high-level modern public cultural service system covering "all people, all ages, and all regions," continuously improving public satisfaction and sense of gain. While constructing a new pattern of high-quality spaces with distinct characteristics and a new supply of services featuring intelligent iteration and precise reach, Jing'an will also give play to the advantages of its characteristic brands like the Drama Show Together with Family Members, an "Innovative Case of China Mass Cultural Brands," during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Zhang Jijun:
We will continue to energize grassroots art troupes, bring high-quality content from renowned artists and troupes directly to the public, and build iconic cultural brand events. With the Shanghai · Jing'an Modern Drama Valley as a cultural bond, we will expand a globally oriented cultural exchange network and shape an art ecosystem with international vision and local characteristics.
Host:
Let's embark on a new journey and work diligently for the future. Jing'an's five-year cultural tourism blueprint will support the high-quality construction of the core district of a socialist international cultural metropolis, promote deep integration of culture with economic and social development, and provide cultural tourism impetus for Jing'an to become a key carrier of the "Five Centers." Thank you for sharing! This concludes today's interview. Thank you.
Zhang Zhong:
Thank you, everyone! Goodbye!
Zhang Jijun:
Thank you, everyone! Goodbye!