Ｒｏｌｅ ｏｆ Ｔｒａｄｅ Ｐｒｏｍｏｔｉｎｇ Ｉｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｉｏｎｓ ｉｎ Ｅｘｈｉｂｉｔｉｏｎ

China has developed toa big exhibitioncountry in Asia andPacific area although the exhi-bition industry has been devel-oped just for a short period.China's trade promotionsystem， including direct subsid-iaries of China Council for thePromotion of InternationalTrade(CCPIT)， local trade pro-motion institutions and profes-sional trade promotioninstitutions， have performed avery important role. Under thecondition of market economy，trade promotion institutions， ashalf-official organizations，should go on perform active role in pro-moting the development of exhibitionindustry in China.

It is a basic job of all sorts of tradepromotion institutions in the nationwiderange in organizing the exhibitions andfairs. As organizers， besides holding do-mestic and overseas exhibitions， the tradepromotion institutions are also very impor-tant agencies， especially in organizing do-mestic delegations in participating in theoverseas exhibitions， which have taken60% of the turnover of China's overseasexhibitons.

China's trade promotion institutionsare very special， they are neither govem-ment institutions nor enterprises， they aresociety organizations administrated in ac-cordance with the government institutions.

A phenomenon appears in recent yearshas aroused people's anxiety， meaning thattoo much of the exhibitions are govern-ment organized， it is not in line with theprinciple of equal competition and does notabide by the economic rules. However， itis a reasonable choice that the trade pro-motion institutions participate in theactivities.

In a mature market economy， govern-ments function of administrating the enter-prises is always realized by some non-gov-ernment commercial associations.

But restricted by the current system，China's commercial associations developvery slowly and performs very limited role.Most of the commercial associations cannotbe seperated from the guide and even directleadings from the government， for them， itis much more important to be responsible tothe government thant to provide services tothe enterprises， their role are very similar tothe \"second government\".

In the traditional system，China lacksenough attention to the service industry，especially the modem commercial serviceindustry. The exhibition industry， doesn'tdevelop independently， but as an assistantmeasure in promoting the development oftrade， science and technology and culture.

With the construction of the marketeconomy system， the Chinese govern-ments' traditional role has been changedgradually. When the condition ofexhibition market is becomingmature， the government will inevi-tably gradually give up the role ofthe exhibition organizers， its ba-sic role will be constituting the de-velopment programs， constructingthe environment， providing thepolicies， strengthening the marcrocontrol and organizing theservices. On the other hand， theprofessional exhibitionassociation， as a professional self-regulation organization， shouldplay a role of communicationbridge between the governmentsand the exhibition firms. The ex-hibition firms are the main enti-ties of the development of the exhibitionindustry. Under the market system， thegovernments， the associations and the en-terprises should exert their functions re-spectively in different layers.

Currently， in order to actively developthe exhibition industry， it is necessary toconstitute the exhibition programs and therelevant industrial policies and regulations.The trade promotional institutions， as\"half-official\" organizations， as leadingsheep in the exhibition industry， authorizedby the government， should participate inthe industrial administration. Its roleshould be exerted in the activities whichthe government is not available to do orthe professional associations can not do，for instance， the exhibitions held in for-eign countries， sampling and assessmentof the domestic exhibition， etc..

According to the above roles illustrated，the trade promoting institutions and thegovernment should collaberate on the baseof work division， together with the exhibi-tion fa'ms， to promote the construction andperfection of the exhibition market.