The number of art and cultural companies operating in Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has exceeded 500 with a total turnover of over 30 billion yuan a year, according to a recent forum held in the city.

To promote Chinese art products to overseas buyers, the National Museum of China in Beijing will team up with Alibaba Group to open an online trading platform for its 1.4 million collections and set up an offline store in the Shanghai FTZ. The online platform in three languages will cover more than 100 countries.

Global artwork sales reached US$45 billion last year. China has the third largest art market in the world after the US and UK, accounting for 18 percent of the global sales, the forum was told.