Third Kashgar Cultural Industry Expo Opens September 25, Coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival
KASHGAR, Xinjiang, China — September 22, 2026
The third Xinjiang Kashgar Cultural Industry Expo and Trade Fair will run from September 25 to 27, 2026, at the Kashgar International Convention and Exhibition Center in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China. The three-day event coincides with this year's Mid-Autumn Festival and is held under the theme "Moonlight over the Silk Road, Culture and Trade Prosper Kashgar."
The fair is the only culture-focused trade exhibition in Xinjiang to remain officially registered with China's Ministry of Commerce.
A Silk Road Hub Turns Its Spotlight on Culture
Kashgar sits in the far west of China, at the point where the historic Silk Road split into its northern and southern routes. Long a crossroads between China and Central and South Asia, the city remains one of the country's most distinctive cultural destinations — a fact the fair is designed to put on full display.
Organized by the Kashgar Prefecture Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, this year's edition is built to serve three purposes at once: cultural exchange, industry matchmaking, and consumer spending.
Event at a Glance
Dates: September 25–27, 2026
Venue: Kashgar International Convention and Exhibition Center, Kashgar, Xinjiang, China
Theme: "Moonlight over the Silk Road, Culture and Trade Prosper Kashgar"
Organizer: Kashgar Prefecture Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau
Total exhibition area: approximately 10,300 square meters
Participating companies: more than 230
A First for the Fair: An Outdoor Experience Zone
For the first time, the expo sets aside a 4,000-square-meter outdoor "Cultural Tourism Consumption Experience" zone, running alongside a 6,300-square-meter indoor "Industry Investment and Cooperation" zone.
The two areas are designed to work together — indoor space for business and deal-making, outdoor space for visitors to walk through, try things, and spend time.
The program is organized into sixteen thematic sections and ten industry investment cooperation zones, spanning:
Cultural tourism investment
Cultural and creative technology
Intangible cultural heritage innovation
Outdoor tourism
Tourism services
Also represented are emerging formats such as modern cultural creative products, smart scenic-area technology, and digital performance.
Who Is Exhibiting
Exhibitors span a wide geographic footprint:
Local Kashgar businesses, showcasing the prefecture's own cultural tourism achievements
Shandong, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Shenzhen — the provinces and cities paired with Kashgar under China's partner-assistance program
Prefectures across Xinjiang, bringing regional cultural and tourism products
Neighboring provinces Qinghai and Tibet, presenting their own cultural highlights
What's Happening Across the Three Days
The main program includes cultural tourism resource presentations, cultural creative product showcases, project site visits and matchmaking, artistic performances, travel creator tours, and writer reading sessions. In total, 18 industry promotion and matchmaking sessions are scheduled.
The fair is structured around a "four-in-one" format that links exhibition, festival, performance, and promotion into a single program.
Supporting events include:
"Meet Kashgar" — an immersive performance
Unveiling of the fair's IP mascot
"Full Moon over the Kunlun · Mid-Autumn Silk Road" garden party
Intangible cultural heritage workshops, with hands-on craft sessions
A Silk Road tour for travel creators
"Mountains and Seas of Kunlun · Reading Kashgar" — an exchange with well-known authors
Evening programming includes the main venue performance of the 2026 Xinjiang community "Village Gala" and an autumn concert.
Free to the Public
The garden party and the intangible cultural heritage handicraft workshops are open to the public free of charge. Visitors can collect stamps as they move through the venue, take part in interactive activities, and win cultural creative gifts.
For those who cannot attend in person, a digital exhibition platform supports online viewing, appointment registration, and business matchmaking.
Built on a Free Trade Zone Advantage
The fair is positioned around the China (Xinjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone's Kashgar Area, with the stated aim of building a Belt and Road cultural industry exchange and cooperation platform. A key focus is deepening cultural exchange with the partner regions of Shandong, Shanghai, Guangdong, and Shenzhen, while converting cultural tourism resources into market-ready products and unlocking consumer spending on culture.
Preparations and Press Briefing
A press conference for the third edition was held on September 19, 2026. Wei Wei, member of the Kashgar Prefecture Party Committee and deputy commissioner of the prefecture administrative office, delivered the keynote briefing. Officials from the Kashgar Prefecture Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, the Prefecture Commerce Bureau, the Kashgar Municipal People's Government, and the Kashgar Cultural Tourism Investment (Group) Co., Ltd. took questions from reporters.
Organizers said preparations for the fair are proceeding on schedule.
