Shaping the brand, highlighting its characteristics, and building a national cultural export base with high standards.Li Gang，the Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee pointed out at the 12th Municipal Party Committee that it is necessary to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of excellent traditional culture, speed up the construction of characteristic cultural industry development demonstration zones, culture-driven urban transformation experimental zones, and Chinese culture to the world's leading zone. Cultivate and expand the characteristic cultural industry, promote the in-depth integration of cultural and tourism, and vigorously develop "cultural +".Improve the quality and efficiency of cultural trade, implement the cultivation of cultural and creative "little giants" and cultural export leading enterprises, accelerate the construction of the national color lantern cultural export quality and safety demonstration zone, and further improve the scale and quality of cultural trade.

On June 14, 2018, at the National Cultural Export Base Promotion Conference held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Zigong was selected as the first batch of 13 national cultural export bases and was also the only base selected in Sichuan.The development of any industry is inseparable from the support of talents.As more and more cities light up in the world, the number of lantern artisans supporting the development of the lantern industry is far from enough.

In the professional training workshop of lantern design and production of Zigong Vocational and Technical School, more than 100 teachers and students are divided into 5 study groups and scattered in various areas of the workshop.At regular intervals, students will take turns to learn modeling, silk-covering, hand-painting, electrician.We have set up courses for the 6 links of lantern design and production.In the first two years, we will adopt a full-subject teaching system to cultivate all-round talents in the lantern industry,the third year is divided into two professional directions: design and marketing, production and management, and guide students to specialize.The major of lantern design and production is a school-enterprise cooperation, and it is a beneficial practice to explore the development of cultural industry branding and professional cultivation of industrial talents.

At present, the "Zigong Lantern Festival" has a footprint in more than 70 countries and regions around the world, and exports more than 30 Zigong Lantern Festivals to the world every year, occupying 80% of the domestic and 90% overseas lamp fair market, and it is gradually becoming an international cultural brand.While Zigong lanterns are constantly developing, it have put forward higher requirements on the quantity and quality of lantern craftsmen.

In order to implement the spirit of the 12th Plenary Session of the Municipal Party Committee and speed up the construction of the National Lantern Culture Export Quality and Safety Demonstration Zone, in 2018, Zigong formulated special evaluation specifications for the professional ability of lanterns, and compiled occupations such as "traditional lantern technology" and "traditional lighting production training". Education and training materials, the compilation of "Zigong Craft Lanterns" and "Zigong Simulation Dinosaurs" Alliance Standards, Zigong Lantern Art Production, Lantern Silk Covering and Lantern Modeling Production were successfully included in the national special vocational ability assessment, Zigong Lantern Industry Skilled Talents Achieve zero breakthroughs in identification standards.In the same year, Zigong established the first Lantern College in the country-the Lantern College of Sichuan University of Technology, and opened a lantern artisan training course. The annual plan is to train 3,000 people. With the efforts of many aspects, talents with professional skills in lanterns can be developed.

With the "Zigong Lantern Festival" becoming famous overseas, through the government providing a platform, the lantern festival providing venues, craftsmen showing their skills, and the industry strictly demands themselves, " Lantern Craftsman" is becoming another brand nurtured by the development of the lantern industry.Is has also played an important role in promoting regional development, realizing labor transfer, helping rural revitalization, and poverty alleviation in rural areas.