Exhibition period: December 7, 2012- February 26, 2013

Exhibition location: Starting from the east and west halls of Zone B of Shenzhen Citizen Center and the second floor of the Industrial Exhibition Hall, cross the rooftop corridor of the Central Book City to Lianhuashan Park, and then turn to the Guanshan Yue Art Museum

The first China Design Exhibition is a national level professional design exhibition jointly organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Shenzhen Municipal Government, organized by the Art Department of the Ministry of Culture, the Propaganda Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Shenzhen "City of Design" Promotion Office, and the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It is also the largest design project held in Shenzhen since it was named the "City of Design" by UNESCO. The project was launched at the beginning of this year, and a press conference for the China Design Exhibition was held in Beijing in May. The exhibition plan, posters, and logo were announced, and an invitation for submissions was sent to designers across the country, especially in the Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions. The main exhibition of the grand exhibition includes four sections: graphic design, product design, spatial design, and cross-border design. The collection of works was completed from January 2008 to September 30, 2012. The initial evaluation was completed in early October, and the final evaluation was completed in mid November. Currently, preparations for the exhibition layout and opening ceremony are progressing in an orderly manner.

1、 Exhibition theme: "Creation of the Times"

Due to the cross industry and interdisciplinary characteristics of design, management is relatively scattered and the development of the industry is unclear. Based on the suggestions of relevant experts and the requirements of the Shenzhen organizer, the Ministry of Culture has renamed the National Art and Design Exhibition as the "First China Design Exhibition" after several expert discussions. This is an exploratory and forward-looking decision aimed at accurately evaluating the development status of Chinese design and providing guidance for the future development plan of Chinese design. After the name of the grand exhibition was determined, the organizing committee held multiple expert discussion meetings and set the theme of the exhibition as "Creation of the Times", hoping to "encourage Chinese design innovation and promote social progress" through the exhibition. Comrade Xu Qin, the Mayor of Shenzhen, pointed out that the "China Design Exhibition" has profound significance in promoting the development and transformation of Shenzhen's cultural and creative industry, creating the brand image of Shenzhen as the "City of Design", improving the quality of Shenzhen, urban quality, and public happiness; Shenzhen will cooperate with the Ministry of Culture to make the "China Design Exhibition" the highest level national exhibition leading China's future design development, and shape the exhibition brand.

2、 Organizational structure, exhibition period and venue

The exhibition has established a organizing committee, academic committee, and evaluation committee, which is mainly composed of relevant leaders from the Ministry of Culture and Shenzhen City. The organizing committee office is located at the Guanshan Yue Art Museum in Shenzhen; The academic committee and evaluation committee have gathered leading figures and experts in the Chinese design industry, with four curation groups led by well-known experts in graphic, product, space, and cross-border integrated design; The exhibition period is from December 7th, 2012 to February 26th, 2013, with an exhibition period of 80 days; The exhibition venue starts from the East West Hall (Indoor Hall) and the Second Floor of the Industrial Exhibition Hall in Zone B of Shenzhen Citizen Center, crosses the rooftop corridor of the Central Book City to Lianhuashan Park (Outdoor), and then turns into the Guanshan Yue Art Museum (Indoor Hall). Among them, the indoor exhibition hall covers an area of over 10000 square meters, the outdoor area is about 15000 square meters, and the overall exhibition area reaches 25000 square meters.

3、 Review results and award settings

Regarding the evaluation plan for the exhibition. The exhibition is divided into two parts: initial evaluation and final evaluation. The initial evaluation panel is composed of curators from various sectors and some academic members (including well-known experts in the design industry from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan). The curators of the final review panel will not participate. Some will be directly appointed from the members of the Academic Committee of the China Design Exhibition, while the rest will be selected from well-known experts in the domestic (including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) design industry. The Review Committee of China Design Exhibition is nominated by the Academic Committee of China Design Exhibition. After being reviewed and approved by the Organizing Committee of China Design Exhibition, it is submitted to the Ministry of Culture for approval and appointed in the name of the Ministry of Culture.

Regarding the setting of awards, the title of the award is "Excellent Design Award at China Design Exhibition", jointly issued by the Ministry of Culture and the Shenzhen Municipal Government with certificates and bonuses (50000 yuan per work).

From the press conference of the China Design Exhibition on May 30th to the deadline of September 30th, a total of 11200 works (sets) were received at this exhibition, including 1017 recommended works (sets) by the curator and 10183 publicly solicited works (sets).

After initial evaluation, out of 11200 works, 696 were selected for entry and exit, including 277 flat works, 237 products, 151 space works, and 31 cross-border comprehensive works.

After the initial evaluation of the exhibition, 696 pieces (sets) of works were selected and participated in the final evaluation. After the final evaluation, 644 pieces (sets) of works were planned to be selected for the exhibition, including 265 flat works, 206 products, 144 spaces, 29 cross-border comprehensive works, and 14 award-winning works (sets). They will be announced after public announcement.

　　This year's exhibition gathered a total of 644 works from designers across the country (including 77 from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan), showcasing the latest achievements in China's design development in recent years. It represents the direction of China's design development, embodies the concepts of people's livelihood, high technology, ecology, and environmental protection, and leads the transformation from Made in China to Created in China.

4、 Exhibition Innovation

During the preparation process of this exhibition, the organizing committee was brave in exploration and innovation, and made new breakthroughs in multiple aspects. Firstly, it effectively solved the problem of combining the curator mechanism with the national exhibition mechanism. Considering the cross industry and interdisciplinary nature of design, the organizing committee has proposed a plan that combines a curator mechanism with a national exhibition mechanism. Four curatorial groups, including graphic design, product design, spatial design, and cross-border (integrated) design, were hired, consisting of scholars, leaders of design industry associations, and independent designers. Each curatorial group accurately grasped the concept and academic direction of the grand exhibition, not only highlighting the problems and challenges faced by Chinese design at the current stage, but also comprehensively showcasing the achievements of Chinese design in recent years. The second is to innovate methods and fully utilize network interaction technology to serve exhibitions. By setting up official websites and posting official Weibo, information was widely disseminated to the society, with an official Weibo fan base of 500000 people. At the same time, a service provider was commissioned to customize an interactive digital review system for the exhibition. In just two days, more than 10000 pieces of work were preliminarily reviewed, receiving unanimous praise from review experts. The third is to recruit student volunteers from Shenzhen University and art schools at home and abroad to participate in exhibition services. During the initial evaluation period alone, more than 60 students from Shenzhen University and Shenzhen Vocational and Technical College participated in the entry of collected works, ensuring that the evaluation work was completed as scheduled. The fourth is to mobilize the enthusiasm of various design industry associations and strive for widespread support from the industry. The Design Industry Association is a relatively professional industry organization formed by frontline designers in society, with strong appeal to the design industry. The design industry in Shenzhen started early and has a relatively high level of development, which has a certain influence on the whole country. The Propaganda Department of the Municipal Party Committee organized a special meeting of various industry associations and related institutions in Shenzhen, mobilizing all forces in Shenzhen to actively participate in the design exhibition. Various industry associations in Shenzhen also actively responded and conveyed the exhibition information to all industry associations across the country. Through the organizational resources of the design association, we have played a great role in collecting a wide range of works. Among the more than 10000 collected works, about 70% were submitted through various design association organizations. The fifth is to focus on promoting activities in four cities: Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, and Hong Kong. Especially in Hong Kong, more than 50 design experts such as Jin Daiqiang, Liu Xiaokang, and Peng Zhijiang, as well as media outlets such as Hong Kong Business Daily, Ta Kung Pao, and Xin Pao, attended the promotion event, promoting the active participation of designers from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. A total of 77 entries from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau were selected for this exhibition.

5、 Grand Exhibition Forum

The China Design Exhibition Forum is divided into two parts: the main forum and the professional forum, hosted by Shenzhen University. Within the framework of the overall theme, corresponding themes are extended based on the content of each section of the design exhibition, intersecting and complementing each other, jointly forming the contemporary proposition of "Chinese design". At the same time, as an extension and supplement to the exhibition results, academic forums will discuss areas not covered by the exhibition (such as architectural and fashion design), or topics that have not been fully presented (such as design education).

On the morning of December 8th, the main forum will be held in the report hall of Zone B of the Citizen Center. The theme of the forum is "Era? Creation". The attending guests include relevant leaders from the Ministry of Culture and Shenzhen City, as well as Hans Doville, Deputy Director General of UNESCO, Pan Gongkai, Dean of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Fan Dean of the Chinese Museum of Art, Jordi Cortada, Chairman of the Elisava Design Institute in Barcelona, Spain, and Daniel Moragas, Dean of the Elisava Design Institute in Barcelona, Spain.

On December 9th, the all-day professional forum was held in the first and second academic lecture halls of the Science and Technology Building of Shenzhen University. Four professional forums and their themes:

1. Space Design: Chinese Space Design Strategies

2. Product Design: Design Reputation and Design Value

3. Visual communication design: originality, visual power, vitality, and social value

4. Cross disciplinary Design: Cross disciplinary, Exploration, and Cooperation

The professional forum invited experts and renowned designers from the design industry in China (including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) to attend and give speeches.

6、 About the Opening Ceremony of the Grand Exhibition

According to the arrangement, this year's first China Design Exhibition will be merged with the opening ceremony of the 8th Creative December in Shenzhen. It is scheduled to be held at 3pm on December 7th at the platform square on the second floor of Zone B of the Citizen Center. The opening ceremony will showcase a solemn, grand, warm, and fashionable atmosphere. At that time, leaders from the Ministry of Culture and the province, as well as leaders from the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Government, will be invited to attend, and nationally renowned design experts and award-winning authors (including Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) will also be gathered.