CEAF50 2026 Think Tank Summit Opens in Wenzhou, Highlighting Local Culture Through Fashion

The Craft Economists & Academics 50 Forum (CEAF50) held its 2026 Think Tank Summit in Wenzhou, a Maritime Silk Road city on the banks of the Ou River.

The summit’s theme was ‘Art in step with the times, crafts leading fashion: expressing local culture through fashion’.

Leaders from national ministries, government bodies, specialist colleges and universities, and leading businesses joined experts and scholars from a wide range of fields to exchange ideas. With fashion as its focus and creative design, trend-setting, brand development and emerging business models as its guiding themes, the summit explored innovative ways to bring crafts into fashion and to give them contemporary expression. It sought to promote innovation and the transmission of craft traditions, create a platform for innovation in craft-based industries, and foster new business models bringing crafts together with design, fashion, branding, technology and art, through a shared commitment to innovation and the passing on of craft traditions.

At the opening ceremony, Wang Cailian, a member of the Standing Committee and Head of the Publicity Department of the Wenzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), delivered a welcome address on behalf of the local government. Other opening addresses were given by Li Ning, Deputy Director of the Industrial Culture Development Centre of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; Monanterou, an economist and board member of the Greek Society of Folk Art and Handicrafts; Liu Jiangyi, Party Secretary of the China National Light Industry Council and the All-China Federation of Handicraft and Industrial Cooperatives; and Wang Jinzhan, a member of the Leading Party Members Group and Executive Secretary of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST).
Keynote addresses were delivered by Ana Cristina Mendes, President of the European Crafts Alliance, and Xiang Zhaolun, a distinguished cultural scholar and former Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism and member of the ministry’s Leading Party Members Group. Cai Daying, Secretary-General of CEAF50 and Party Secretary and President of the China National Arts and Crafts Society (CNACS), presented CEAF50’s 2026 Wenzhou Consensus. Certificates were also awarded to CEAF50’s think tank experts and academic experts. The ceremony was hosted by Chang Xiao, a well-known presenter, cultural scholar and former news anchor at China Media Group.

Wang Cailian, a member of the Standing Committee and Head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Wenzhou Municipal Committee, delivers an address.

Li Ning, Deputy Director of the Industrial Culture Development Centre of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, delivers an address.

Monanterou, an economist and board member of the Greek Society of Folk Art and Handicrafts, delivers an address.

Liu Jiangyi, Party Secretary of the China National Light Industry Council and the All-China Federation of Handicraft and Industrial Cooperatives, delivers an address.

Wang Jinzhan, a member of the Leading Party Members Group and Executive Secretary of CAST, delivers an address.

Ana Cristina Mendes, President of the European Crafts Alliance, delivers a keynote address.

Xiang Zhaolun, a distinguished cultural scholar and former Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism and member of the ministry’s Leading Party Members Group, delivers a keynote address.

Cai Daying, Secretary-General of CEAF50 and Party Secretary and President of CNACS, presents CEAF50’s 2026 Wenzhou Consensus.

Wang Jinzhan, a member of the Leading Party Members Group and Executive Secretary of CAST, presents a certificate to Ana Cristina Mendes, a CEAF50 think tank expert.

Liu Jiangyi, Party Secretary of the China National Light Industry Council and the All-China Federation of Handicraft and Industrial Cooperatives, presents certificates to CEAF50 academic experts Monanterou, Jin Jiangbo, Zhang Linghao and Júlia Beltran.

Li Ning, Deputy Director of the Industrial Culture Development Centre of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, presents certificates to CEAF50 academic experts Cao Xue, Assadour Markarov, Benoît Munoz and Chang Xiao.

The CEAF50 2026 Think Tank Summit was jointly launched by Wang Jinzhan, a member of the Leading Party Members Group and Executive Secretary of CAST; Liu Jiangyi, Party Secretary of the China National Light Industry Council and the All-China Federation of Handicraft and Industrial Cooperatives; Li Ning, Deputy Director of the Industrial Culture Development Centre of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology; Cai Daying, Party Secretary and President of CNACS; Ana Cristina Mendes, President of the European Crafts Alliance; Wang Cailian, a member of the Standing Committee and Head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Wenzhou Municipal Committee; Monanterou, an economist and board member of the Greek Society of Folk Art and Handicrafts; Yu Liqing, Executive Deputy Head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Wenzhou Municipal Committee; Xia Yujiang, Secretary of the CPC Longwan District Committee and Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Wenzhou Bay New Area; Sun Xiangguang, Party Secretary and Director of the Wenzhou Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology; and Lin Zhaoguang, Party Secretary and Chairman of Wenzhou Industry and Energy Development Group Co., Ltd.

Nearly 400 people attended the opening ceremony and the first thematic forum of the CEAF50 2026 Think Tank Summit. They included experts, scholars and invited delegates from CNACS branches, provincial and municipal societies and associations, government bodies, museums and cultural research institutions, industry organisations and businesses, alongside representatives from Wenzhou’s various sectors and relevant departments, members of the media and other guests.

Editor: Zhang Shupeng
Source: Secretariat of the China National Arts and Crafts Society