Major strategies lead a new beginning | Skillfully leveraging the spring breeze to seize the momentum, "Big Consumption" sets a new pace

**Tianjin 3月30消息 from CRI: “The moment the exhibition opened, we sold a machine. This afternoon I still have an order to fill—30 units, with a total value of nearly 10 million yuan! I’ll be back next time!” At the site of the 22nd China (Tianjin) International Exhibition of Equipment Manufacturing Industry (hereinafter referred to as the “China Tianjin Equipment Expo”)—manager Zhang Hongmin of BeiFang Brothers Machine Tool Co., Ltd. in Wen’an County, Langfang City, Hebei Province, had just completed a signing and was already eager to tell reporters this good news. The expo also released a “performance report” with nearly 800 domestic and overseas enterprises participating, more than 100,000 professional buyers in attendance, and intention orders exceeding 3 billion yuan—injecting strong momentum into a “great start” for Tianjin’s consumer market.

In 2025, with approval from the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce issued “Several Measures to Support the Cultivation and Development of International Consumer Center Cities,” supporting Tianjin and other relevant cities to accelerate the cultivation and development of international consumer center cities, and to create a consumer environment with global appeal—expanding domestic demand in all directions and expanding high-level opening to the outside world. That same year, the “Action Plan for Tianjin to Build a ‘Big Consumption’ Development Framework” proposed three major tasks: “promoting the expansion and upgrading of goods consumption,” “promoting the release of potential in service consumption,” and “promoting improvements in quality and efficiency of productive consumption,” as well as ranking “building up the exhibition and convention brand,” “developing the first-release economy,” and “integrated culture and tourism consumption across the whole area” among them.

With bright spring sunshine and all things coming to life, a wave of consumer fervor surges across the vast Tianjin—at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Tianjin) venue, a sequence of industrial events and trade opportunities keep kicking off; in the streets and alleys steeped in historical charm, crowds gather and the atmosphere is lively, with energy “fully charged.” A picture of consumption prosperity—bringing strength through exhibitions, empowering with first releases, and improving efficiency through linkage—is gradually unfolding, injecting vigorous momentum into Tianjin’s development as an international consumer center city.

More to visit, more to buy—“Tianjin-brand” exhibitions worth a “second look”

All exhibit machines of Lufang CNC were sold out on-site, and it also signed more than 20 advance-sale orders in addition; at the Sky Aerospace booth, more than 100 robots were sold and signed on-site, and the demand for first-exhibition orders at the start of the year had already exceeded the annual production task……At the China Tianjin Equipment Expo, “happiness comes so suddenly” is a heartfelt sentiment shared by many exhibitors. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, Tianjin took multiple measures to actively promote development of the exhibition economy, introduced the “Regulations of Tianjin on Promoting the Development of the Exhibition Industry,” continuously optimized the exhibition environment, and kept stimulating market vitality, with the annual average growth rate of exhibition scale and number exceeding 18%. In 2025, Tianjin held exhibitions totaling about 3 million square meters and 118 exhibition events.

At the China Tianjin Equipment Expo site, staff are “operating” a machine (photo by CRI, Lan Zixian)

During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, construction of the “Capital of Exhibitions in the North” is also accelerating—such as the 2026 Spring·Bihai Fishing Tackle Industry Expo with an exhibition area of 140,000 square meters and attracting nearly 2,000 enterprises to participate; and the China North International Bicycle and Electric Vehicle Exhibition with the number of standard booths reaching 6,000, more than 1,000 participating units, and attracting over 200,000 visitors each edition……Open the exhibition schedule for the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Tianjin), and one heavyweight exhibition after another keeps coming in succession, making it hard not to feel your expectations “maxed out.”

A debut that reaches the peak—first-release economy boosts the consumer engine

Recently, at the first Tianjin Chocolate Festival held in Wudadao Park, more than 60 boutique chocolate brands from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hainan and other places joined forces to bring visitors a “sweet impact.” During the two-day event, daily foot traffic exceeded 50,000, and many merchants sold out all their products in advance, leaving visitors who couldn’t indulge to their hearts content sighing “what a pity.”

Crowds at the first Tianjin Chocolate Festival (photo by CRI, provided by Wudadao Park)

The plaza was bustling with activity above ground, and the flow of people was shoulder-to-shoulder even below ground. At the China National Geographic Exploration Center (Tianjin Station) (hereinafter referred to as the “Exploration Center”), long lines formed, keeping staff extremely busy. As the first immersive exploration space of China National Geographic in Tianjin, the Exploration Center opened at the same time as Wudadao Park, and quickly converted passing visitor flows into targeted consumer groups—activating consumption vitality and experiential value in the area. During holidays and weekends, the average visitor dwell time exceeded 2.5 hours—truly a “debut that reaches the peak.”

“Starting from Tianjin Port, we first came to the Bohai Sea. Look! There are a lot of swimming crabs with three ridges…” At the Exploration Center, the IP character “YuanYuanZi” is leading visitors to explore underwater mysteries. After entering the flight cinema, visitors also get a bird’s-eye view of Tianjin’s scenic highlights such as Panshan, the Beitang ancient town, Tianjin Port, and the Haihe River from above. Meanwhile, the Exploration Center’s “Ancient Fish Revival Plan,” co-launched globally with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has also become a “top trend.” “With our core R&D philosophy of ‘one city, one museum, one theme,’ we tailor a ‘Mountain and Sea Odyssey’ themed immersive space for Tianjin. Through a high-quality, strongly interactive, immersive parent-child science-education model, we link up with other merchants in the district to build a full-area consumption closed loop. In the future, we will also help Wudadao become a high-quality cultural and tourism benchmark not only for people to visit and enjoy, but also with educational and research value, rich cultural connotations, and consumption vitality.” said Zhang JinFeng, chairman of Gami Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd.

A reporter experiences “Leaping Tianjin” (photo by CRI reporter Zhou Siyang)

In 2025, Tianjin’s first-release economy development momentum was strong: 576 first stores were introduced throughout the year, increasing by an average of 48 per month. Among them, more than 300 quality first stores were introduced, up 96% year-on-year, and the introduction of first stores achieved a shift upward in both quantity and quality. The central urban areas served as the main front for carrying first stores, with Pinghe District, Hexi District, and Nankai District together accounting for more than half of the total first stores introduced across the city. JinJie business district, Cultural Center business district, and Old Town Enclave—GuWenhua Street business district introduced a combined total of 194 quality first stores. The clustering effect of first-store openings in the three business districts was evident: from long-established business districts to brand projects, “first stores” and “first releases” are becoming key keywords for reshaping the commercial landscape.

Turn crowds into customer groups—‘flower economy’ drives integration of commerce, culture, and tourism

In March, spring is in the air along the Beiyun River in Tianjin. The 35th Tianjin Canal Peach Blossom Culture, Commerce and Tourism Festival arrived as scheduled. With peach-pink blossoms and green willows, this “springtime appointment” uses vivid real-world practice of integrating culture, commerce, and tourism to deeply blend consumption vitality with the city’s underlying strengths.

On the canal, performing teams lead visitors into the depths of culture through immersive performances; by the ancient embankment, the cultural and creative markets bring in all kinds of “Tianjin-flavored” souvenirs that draw people to stop and look. At Wei Wenwen’s stall, many visitors are selecting original cultural and creative products. She told reporters that this time they designed not only exclusive peach-blossom refrigerator stickers for the Peach Blossom Festival, but also original refrigerator stickers featuring Tianjin architectural landmarks. Exhibits showcasing the intangible cultural heritage skills of silk-fiber drawing have also become “hit products.”

Original cultural and creative products from the “Peach Blossom Festival” draw attention (photo by CRI reporter Han Yuchen)

The wildly popular Peach Blossom Festival continues to ignite the consumption market across Hongqiao district. Not only does it extend consumption scenarios to commercial carriers such as the “Tianjin Eye” and the Northwest Corner, it also launched more than 30 promotional consumption activities under the theme “Gifts from the Canal—Happiness with Peach You Enjoy.” Related commercial complexes also offered festival-exclusive discounts for the Peach Blossom Festival……Activities cover the full range of “eating, staying, traveling, shopping, and entertainment” scenarios, enabling coordinated development between scenic areas and business districts, and between cultural tourism and commerce and trade—upgrading the experience of enjoying flowers into a “flower economy.” During the event period, the main venue—Peach Blossom Dike—and Xigu Park together received 881,800 visitors, a year-on-year increase of 10.43%.

The Northwest Corner business district is full of peach blossom elements (photo by CRI reporter Han Yuchen)

Yin Shourui, head of the Business Bureau of Hongqiao District, said that the consumption layout for this Peach Blossom Festival always closely focuses on the core of the integration of production, cities, and industries. It promotes scenic areas, business districts, hotels, and featured pedestrian streets to form a consumption synergy—so that visitors can enjoy a richer and more convenient consumption experience, while also giving local commercial and trade industries development opportunities by leveraging the flow of cultural tourism. This ensures that the benefits of urban development reach more market players.

From the surging enthusiasm of the exhibition economy and the consecutive flourishing of major exhibitions—providing two-way empowerment for industries and consumption; to the strong momentum of the first-release economy, where first-store and first-exhibition openings light up business districts and activate a new consumer engine; and to the deep integration of culture, commerce, and tourism—where the “flower economy” links consumption scenarios across the whole area, turning “popularity” into “prosperous business” and “traffic” into “sales.” With exhibitions as the engine, first releases as the leverage, and linkage as the path, Tianjin is solidly advancing the construction of a “big consumption” framework. It injects strong consumer momentum into the process of high-quality urban development, writing a brand-new chapter of upgrading consumption quality and capacity.

Planning: Wang Yebiao

Overall coordination: Zhang Qiang

Reporter: Chu Fuzhiqing Han Yuchen Zhou Siyang

Intern reporter: Lan Zixian

Jointly produced by Tianjin Development and Reform Commission, Tianjin Municipal Cyberspace Administration, and CRI Tianjin Channel