Since being included in the first batch of national cultural export bases in 2018, Guangzhou's Tianhe district has had success in developing its cultural and creative industries, particularly its game and e-sports industry, which has generated a revenue exceeding 100 billion yuan ($15.69 billion) and accounts for nearly 40 percent of the industry's total nationally.

"After four years of development, Tianhe district has basically formed a cultural industry development pattern with emerging cultural and creative industries like games, animation, and e-sports leading the development, in which traditional cultural and entertainment industries are assisting their development," said Yuan Xiaoyi, deputy head of Tianhe district, at a press conference on March 24.

According to Yuan, Tianhe has been promoting the development of the game and e-sports industry. It has also been accelerating the formation of a pan-entertainment e-sports ecosystem integrating event hosting, content production, and entertainment experience.

Skyscrapers in Tianhe district. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]

In 2020, the Tianhe central business district was recognized as a national digital service export base and has formed two headquarters clusters of digital creativity and digital trade. Its digital service export business covers 35 countries and regions in the world.

A number of digital trade headquarters enterprises have settled in Zhujiang New Town, including Guangzhou Mars Information Technology Services, as well as Citigroup Services and Technology (China) Limited.

There are currently nearly 20,000 digital service enterprises in the Tianhe CBD and more than 700 high-tech enterprises, with an operation revenue of over 60 billion yuan. In 2021, the added value of its digital economy core industries surpassed 54.5 billion yuan, accounting for 14.2 percent of the CBD's GDP.

Yuan added that Tianhe will advance the construction of the national cultural export base and the national digital service export base in the future, as well as consolidate the advantages of the "internet + e-sports + entertainment experiences" model.