AN electronic music event kicked off the two-week-long Nanhai E-cool Creative Cultural Festival, themed as “live a life with creation,” in Shekou on Wednesday evening.

    One of the brilliant stars appearing onstage at the 2013 Shenzhen Original Electronic Music Concert was Zhu Lanlan, who exemplifies the success of the E-cool project. She started her singing career at E-cool and now strives for fame with the release of her album, “If You Really Don’t Love Me Anymore.”

    During the festival, in addition to the concert, a series of activities will be held, including a Wall Graffiti Performance, Nanhai E-cool Life Creativity Salon & Photography Exchange, Nanhai E-cool Cultural Street Night Market, Painting Exhibition of Future’s Great Masters and Exhibition of Restoring Life in the 1980s.

    Nanhai E-cool is a demonstration park featuring culture and tourism. It is one of the significant projects vigorously promoted and developed by the Nanshan District Government as well as by the city of Shenzhen. It was transformed by China Merchants Group from the former Sanyo workshops to meet the Shenzhen government’s development strategy of building a “culture-based city.”

    Shenzhen Xinghe Zopin Fashion Culture Co. was another successful example of the E-cool project. Entering E-cool in March 2008 with only 20 employees, the company has witnessed rapid and vigorous growth over past years. Currently it has more than 80 employees and has expanded its number of shops to 89 throughout the country, with an annual sales volume increasing from 10 million yuan (US$1.57 million) five years ago to 100 million yuan this year.

    Nanhai E-cool has now gathered more than 120 enterprises featuring creativity, design and culture, with more than 50 creative shops, as well as featuring restaurants, bars and coffee shops. These businesses have employed about 4,000 personnel, including designers in architectural design, landscape design, industrial design, garment design and TV commercial design.

    The park has an annual output value of nearly 6 billion yuan and has become an important source of inspiration for designers in various fields.

    (Tan Yaoquan)