Taobao Maker Festival kicks off in Hangzhou on Thursday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Whether it's imitation meat or Tang Dynasty costumes, merchants on Taobao, China's largest customer-to-customer site, are showing how to promote culture with technology.

Their creativity is best shown at the Taobao Maker Festival, a mega event that kicked off on Thursday to display a torrent of new designer goods on the marketplace.

According to Chris Tung, Alibaba's chief marketing officer and main organizer of the event, this year's gala will be the "longest, largest and most diverse"since its debut four years ago.