By Qian Ding, CCTV.com reporter

The 11th Annual China Brand Festival was held in the Shunyi district, Beijing from August 7th to August 9th. The festival is organized by Brand China Industry Union(BCIU) and China Convention and Exhibition Society. Kevin Michael Rudd, the 26th Prime Minister of Australia; Chen Changzhi, vice-chairman of China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress; Liu Xiao Ling Tong, Chinese famous actor and others were in attendance.

Kevin Michael Rudd, Chen Changzhi and other guests launched the opening ceremony for the festival.

The China Brand Festival is a platform for brand founders, politicians, brand experts, brand managers to discuss and develop strategies for branding, honor the distinguished brands and introduce brands to bigger market. It has been running for 11 years since it was first held in Beijing on August 8th in 2007.

Branding has been playing an important role in China, however, many Chinese companies lack the capability to brand successfully.  Many top state-owned enterprises had little motivation to develop branding strategy because of government assistance. Besides, the success of high economic growth is more of a matter of developing on manufacturing and delivering, not branding. However, with the change of China's economic structure, more companies are turning from B2B to B2C; the more competitive market today requires companies to focus on branding. As Chen Changzhi said in the speech, "China's State Council has emphasized branding in government work report for two consecutive years, successful branding is a key to pushing forward China's economic development in new era."

Chen Changzhi, vice-chairman of China's Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, gave a speech.

Kevin Michael Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, also the chairman of global councils for BCIU says China is changing the world. Meanwhile the world needs to understand China better. Branding is a way to tell China's stories. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai is a moving Chinese love story, but not many people outside China know about it. The image of a country is formed through branding. When we think of America, we think of Apple, Microsoft, good education and innovation. When we think of Germany, the brands such as BMW, Mercedes Benz come to mind. Similarly, China can build a more positive image of itself through branding.

Kevin Michael Rudd gave a speech in the 11th China Brand Festival. (Photo/ Qian Ding)

This year's China Brand Festival was held in Shunyi district of Beijing. Shunyi has formed a development pattern backed by automobile manufacturing, aviation manufacturing, electronic communications, equipment manufacturing, urban industries and other industries.

Shunyi, Beijing

The Capital International Airport which is home to China's largest and the world's second largest airport stands in Shunyi, with the annual passenger traffic of nearly 94 million. It gathers three centers and six groups of civil aviation and more than 400 aviation enterprises.

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