The China International Import Expo Bureau and the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) on June 1 launched an activity to invite people from across the world to share their CIIE stories.

Why did the organizers launch this activity? What wonderful stories had taken place during the previous CIIEs? What differences have exhibits that debuted at the expo made to the lives of Chinese people?

Upon the 150-day countdown to the fifth CIIE, the activity organizers unveil the answers to these questions.

Q1: Why did the organizers launch the "My CIIE Story" activity?

A1: Five years ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that China would hold the CIIE starting from 2018. The expo, the world's first import-themed, national-level trade fair, has played a role in international procurement, investment promotion, cultural exchange and open cooperation during the past five years. It has connected the Chinese and the global markets, integrated international industrial development, promoted innovation, and aligned domestic regulations with international economic and trade rules. The CIIE has also helped with China's efforts to implement the "dual circulation" development paradigm, continue high-level opening-up and uphold multilateralism. It shows the nation's commitment to expand high-level opening-up and is being hailed at home and abroad.

During the past five years, the CIIE has supported the high-quality development of Chinese economy and the steady implementation of its national strategies. It has become a strong proof of China's commitment to multilateralism and a major diplomatic event, building global consensus on open cooperation and providing important global public goods.

A great number of stories that are worth sharing had taken place during the previous CIIEs. Participants, organizers, and any individuals or organizations that have been involved in the expo or seen changes the expo has made, all have their own CIIE stories to tell.

On June 1, about five years after the CIIE was initiated, we launched an activity to invite people from around the world to share such stories. The activity is expected to provide a platform for people to share their stories. We will hold public classes, seminars and other events to work with different parties to tell CIIE stories and show the achievements the expo has made in facilitating opening-up, cooperation, innovation and mutual benefits.

Q2: What sectors are people who have been involved in the CIIE from? What kind of roles do they play during the event?

A2: In addition to organizers, people that have been involved in the CIIE include those from members of the organizing committee, Chinese administrative divisions, international organizations, participating countries or regions in the country exhibition, exhibitors, buyers, members of the Hongqiao International Economic Forum, media outlets, CIIE support units, and services providers, as well as people who pay close attention and offer advice to the expo, and volunteers.

These people have worked together and played an important part in making each edition of the CIIE a success. They must have many wonderful stories and we hope they can participate in the activity to share them.

Q3: The activity says it welcomes stories about changes the expo has made to people's careers and lives. What differences do you think the CIIE has made to people's lives over the past five years?

A3: The CIIE has profoundly changed the work and life of many people, even those who have never been to the CIIE venue.

Exhibitors at the past four CIIEs launched more than 1,500 new products, technologies and services, and clinched tentative deals worth over $270 billion. Advanced technologies and cutting-edge products, including coin-sized cardiac pacemakers, ping-pong training robots, and specialties from different countries, such as Damask rose oil from Syria, Himalayan salt lamp from Pakistan, and alpaca plush toys from Peru, have entered the Chinese market after being showcased at the expo. They can now be found in operation rooms, Chinese factories, or supermarkets in counties even in Western China. Exhibits at the expo have become accessible goods on the market and changed numerous lives.

In the coming months, we will publish a series of articles and videos collected by the activity to present the most wonderful CIIE stories.

Q4: What preparations have the organizers made for this activity? How have exhibitors and the public responded to the activity after it was launched on June 1?

A4: After months of efforts and with the help of many media outlets and support units, the organizers started soliciting for stories on June 1 via the official information platforms of the CIIE and dozens of media agencies, new media channels and overseas social media platforms such as people.cn, Xinhua News Agency, cctv.com, chinanews.com, China Daily, Xinmin Evening News, shobserver.com and The Paper.

Preliminary data shows that the activity has received about 60 million views. The hashtag #My CIIE Story# on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform, has been viewed over 750,000 times and the activity has become one of the top trending topics on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Many groups, including exhibitors, purchasers, and volunteers, have reached out to us by phone and email to participate in the activity.

Considering that people have different preferences for media types, the activity welcomes both written stories and videos. High-quality works will likely be published on media and official outlets of the CIIE. In addition, we will invite professionals to evaluate the topics, content, and diction of these stories and give certificates to outstanding authors. We will also compile a book and make a video featuring high-quality works and publish them during important occasions. We sincerely invite all parties to share their CIIE stories with us.

Q5: Upon the 150-day countdown to the fifth CIIE, how are the preparations for the expo going?

A5: Preparations for the fair are going well. We are aiming to make the expo even more successful this year.

Many companies, including more than 250 Fortune Global 500 companies and industry leaders, have signed up for the business exhibition and reserved over 75 percent of the planned exhibition space. The CIIE Bureau recently released several favorable measures to support exhibitors and has extended the registration deadline for the fifth CIIE to July 31, 2022. The measures are aimed at helping exhibitors overcome current challenges and sharing the opportunities in the Chinese market with more companies.

The country exhibition will be held online to showcase participating countries' overall images and trade and investment industries in various ways. A number of countries have confirmed the participation of the exhibition.

The Hongqiao International Economic Forum will focus on global opening-up and invite officials, businesspeople and scholars from around the world to have discussions. The World Openness Report 2022 and the World Openness Index will also be released during the forum.

The fifth CIIE has already started accepting applications to register as professional visitors and to hold supporting activities. Preparations for cultural exchange activities and on-site services are also being made as planned. We genuinely welcome and invite people at home and abroad to follow, support and take part in the fifth CIIE and make contributions to global openness and cooperation.