The 21st China Game Industry Annual Conference took place in Shangrao High-speed Rail Economic Experimental Zone, Jiangxi, on 23 January 2026. Attendees included representatives of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Market Management and Industrial Development departments; Dai Liumei, president of the China Culture & Entertainment Industry Association; Liu Changbing, a second-level inspector at the Jiangxi Department of Culture and Tourism; Xie Yuan, a member of the Party leadership group and vice mayor of Shangrao; and Li Shuming, Party working committee secretary of the experimental zone. Zhang Guoyou, former vice president of Peking University, and Wei Pengju, director of the Institute of Cultural Economics at Central University of Finance and Economics, joined more than 300 representatives of businesses, universities, research and investment organisations, and the media.
Dandan Fei, a partner at Guantao Law Firm, attended as an invited guest and visited the experimental zone during her stay in Shangrao.
The conference was jointly hosted by the China Culture & Entertainment Industry Association and Shangrao Municipal People’s Government, and organised by the association’s Game Branch and Digital Entertainment Branch, the experimental zone’s administrative committee and Joy Spreader Group. Its programme included keynotes, roundtables, report releases, project signings and specialist discussions. Invitations covered executives and representatives from more than 150 Chinese and overseas companies, including Tencent, miHoYo, Perfect World, Tanwan Games, Shiyu, Wahlap, Fengyun and Grandeur.
Other invited guests included Deng Lili, head of the cultural digital assets research office at Peking University’s Advanced Institute of Information Technology; Hu Shengping, an association vice president and chairman of Nanjing Fengyun Investment Management; Li Wenhao, an association vice president and vice president of Guangdong Shiyu Technology; and Wang Hongpeng, senior vice president of Poly Culture & Entertainment Technology and president of the association’s Digital Entertainment Branch.
Exchanges on business operations and technology
Xie Yuan and Dai Liumei delivered opening addresses. Xie reported that Shangrao had attracted 184 new digital-economy projects in 2025 and that revenue in its core digital industries exceeded RMB 185 billion. She discussed cooperation between games, digital businesses and local tourism. Dai addressed the development of the game industry at the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
The subsequent presentations featured Yi Di, senior vice president and editor-in-chief of Perfect World; Wang Xiangbin, founder and CEO of DataEye; Su Benli, chairman of Guangzhou Wahlap Technology; Li Huijun, vice president of Jiangxi Tanwan Information Technology; Wang Yanru, head of esports operations at the Honor of Kings Global Esports Development Centre in Tencent Interactive Entertainment’s TiMi L1 Studio; and representatives of Booster Robotics. They exchanged experience in cultural content and technology, esports operations, applications of game IP in physical settings, specialist markets and long-term business operations.
IP roundtable and industry discussions
The continued operation of game content and its use in different consumer settings were central to the conference’s IP roundtable. Representatives of Poly, Zhejiang Cultural Exchange, China Literature, Imagination Particle, Greenland Financial Technology and Tuoluo Research Institute discussed a sustainable ecosystem connecting content with real-world settings, including content development, operations and cooperation across business formats.
An IP application initiative, “IP赋能场景计划”, was jointly launched at the conference. Separate discussions on digital cultural industries and orderly development of the games and amusement sector brought together officials, businesses, researchers and association representatives to examine development and industry practices during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Project cooperation and a visit to the experimental zone
Alongside the industry discussions, the conference included an investment presentation and project signings. Jiang Wengao, deputy Party working committee secretary and director of the experimental zone’s administrative committee, presented its transport connections, commercial space and supporting facilities.
Projects signed at the event involved esports clubs, game-operation facilities and digital-entertainment training. The association also launched an upgrade to its official media platform.
The experimental zone is a centre for Shangrao’s digital cultural industries, with businesses including Tencent esports, China Literature, Tanwan Games, Ximalaya, Xiaohongshu and Bilibili established there. During the conference, Li Shuming outlined services covering AI computing, training, commercial space and intellectual property protection, alongside cooperation between games, local attractions and cultural IP.
During her stay, Dandan Fei visited the experimental zone’s digital creative industry exhibition to learn about its development and businesses in games, animation and film.
