An unprecedented pop music festival, the Golden Music Exposition, opened last Friday in Taipei, featuring more than 30 artists of different styles and generations. Among them are three of the hottest talent show winners: Yoga Lin, Rachel Liang and Chang Yun-jing. A milestone in the history of Taiwan's pop music. The inaugural Golden Music Exposition (GMX) opened last Friday at Taipei's Hua-shan Art & Culture Park, starting with performances from folk singers featured in the 2006 album "Beautiful Haiyan." The weeklong event, inspired by the "South by Southwest" festival of the U.S. and Singapore's "Music Matters," showcases more than 30 artists and bands, including Golden Melody Award winner, Tizzy Bac, pop icon Yoga Lin, versatile vocalist Rachel Liang, and rock star Chang Yun-jing, seen here in a stirring rendition of Michael Jackson's "Beat it." But the exposition is so much more than just a series of concerts. Aside from offering a stage for performances, it is also aimed to create a pop music marketplace as well as a platform for sharing related knowledge and experience. During the opening ceremony of GMX, Government Information Office minister Philip Yang explained that the event is part of the authorities' effort to boost Taiwan's economic growth in the cultural and creative sector. "The categories of pop music, film and TV have become, since last year, the center of the government's development plan for Taiwan's cultural and creative industries." Scheduled to close on June 17th, the GMX is expected to start a promising new chapter for the local music industry.