????Wang Yuanyuan ????cheekywang@hotmail.com ????FOLLOWING its successful participation in last year’s ICIF, the Taiwan Pavilion continued this year to draw a large crowd of visitors attracted to Taiwanese culture. ????About 10 companies from Taiwan attended this year’s ICIF for the first time to introduce Taiwan’s tea culture and related industries. ????The companies are mainly in areas such as tea trading, creative design, interior design, performance and tea-set design, and sought wider markets through the ICIF platform, said Zhao Yong-quan, secretary general of the Taiwan Trade Center. ????“Drinking tea and chatting is a tradition in Taiwan, and this tradition brings out a special ‘oolong culture’ in Taiwan. In Taiwan, tea is closely linked to an ideal way of life, so many creative designers in Taiwan work on creative production with the concept of ‘tea life,’” Zhao said. ????A creative tea exhibition was held at the Taiwan Pavilion, featuring different types of tea from Taiwan. A dance show featuring tea culture also attracted many visitors. ????Free high-end tea and tea snacks from Taiwan were offered at the pavilion. ????A total of 97 cultural companies from Taiwan attended this year’s ICIF. Besides performances and tea, the pavilion presented a wide range of award-winning products including ornaments, gifts, furniture and teapots. ????“It is the fifth time for Taiwan to attend the ICIF. In the first year, there were only 14 companies and now there are a growing number of companies that want to open up to domestic markets through the platform,” Zhao said. ????At last year’s cultural industries fair, the transaction volume of the Taiwan booth reached US$30 million. “We hope that this year’s transaction volume can reach US$33 million,” he said. ???? | 