More than 8,500 companies are active in the Beijing cultural industry, which is 15 percent of the country's total.
People in Beijing are also showing an increased willingness to spend money on cultural and recreational services. Last year they spent an average of more than 2,100 yuan, more than the residents of any other city, and a rise of 14 percent on the previous year
"The cultural and creative industry in Beijing is close to the level of New York, London, Tokyo and other world cities in people employed, the number of museums and the number of movie screens per person," Li says.
"Beijing needs to take advantage of its favorable conditions to further develop the industry so as to enhance its international influence."
There is little doubt that in that respect Beijing, as the national center of politics, culture and international exchanges, enjoys a unique advantage. That has helped it attract more and more talent and big cultural enterprises from elsewhere.
Beauty Media, a Chinese private cultural media enterprise, is one such.
Founded in 1994 in Guangzhou, Beauty Media specializes in broadcasting, cinema and television production, audio-visual programming, creative animation and derivative products. In August 2008 it moved its headquarters from Guangzhou to Beijing.
For Li Feng, vice-president of Beauty Media, the move was strategic. "Beijing is the right place to make our company bigger and stronger," she says.
When China's audiovisual industry faced industrial upgrading challenges from digital media, her company also encountered hurdles, she says.
"Although Guangzhou is one of China's biggest cities, it lags behind Beijing in terms of cultural environment and information flow, so we decided to move our headquarters to Beijing to seek more opportunities."
The decision appears to have been a wise one. Since Beauty Media arrived in the capital, it has rapidly expanded, making a name for itself as a program producer and distributor nationwide and becoming a big cultural exporter.
In 2009 it acquired International Chinese Television Network, becoming the first Chinese media enterprise to gain access to the digital terrestrial broadcast network and the largest Chinese television media entity in the United States.
ICN has 16 channels, covering Los Angeles and San Francisco in California, Seattle in Washington state, Austin, Dallas and Houston in Texas, New York, and Vancouver and Toronto in Canada. About 100 million viewers in North America can watch by wireless or cable its 24-hour free program covering various aspects of China.
On July 30 ICN launched a new program called This is Beijing, with in-depth tourism and cultural information about Beijing.
"As the capital of China, most foreigners see Beijing as standing for China, so we want to help people gain more understanding of contemporary China by showing a full picture of Beijing," Li says.
As part of Beijing's efforts to promote itself as a major cultural center, it is now building Beijing International Cultural Trade Service Center, the first cultural bonded zone in China. It is being built in Beijing Tianzhu Free Trade Zone, northeast of the capital.
The cultural base, also known as the Beijing Freeport of Culture, is due to be completed by 2015 and is expected to become the largest cultural product trading market in Asia.
"Beijing is the country's largest production base for cultural products," says Wang Yudong, assistant general manager of Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group, the operator and initiator of the duty-free port.
"It's also the largest consumer market for cultural products, and setting up the center in Beijing is in line with the city's needs and is also important in enhancing Beijing's cultural influence worldwide."
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