People visit the 1st Shanxi Cultural Industry Expo in Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, June 29, 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

Market Power

A large number of mergers and reorganizations took place in China’s cultural industry in 2013 as a result of the sector’s swift development. According to National Bureau of Statistics data released last August, the added value of China’s cultural industry last year surpassed RMB 1.8 trillion, accounting for 3.48 percent of the country’s GDP.

In the first three quarters of this year, gross private investment in fixed culture, sport and entertainment assets reached RMB 201.8 billion – a 39.4 percent year-on-year growth, and 16 percent higher than that of fixed asset investment by private capital across all industries. In the same period, China’s cinemas raked in RMB 16.425 billion in box office receipts, including RMB 9.56 billion from domestic films. Ticket sales for domestic films account for 58.2 percent of total box office revenue, a year-on-year increase of 93.8 percent. The value of the mobile gaming market exceeded RMB 5 billion in the first half of 2013 – an increase of 135.3 percent over that of the previous six months.

“By improving production and management and developing a modern culture market, the government has resolved property right relations, acknowledged market rules, and underlined the importance of complete industry chain. In contrast to its previous preoccupation with monitoring public opinion, the state has made major progress,” president of Times Publishing Wang Yafei said.

Streamlining administration and delegating power has been the focal point of the new round of reforms. The General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has canceled 21 items requiring administrative approval, including the accreditation of national-level publication exhibitions and fairs. It also delegated the task of approving audio-visual and digital publication duplication companies to authorities at lower levels.

The Ministry of Culture has empowered Internet culture companies with examining the contents of their own websites, through trial runs starting with online games and music. Qi Yongfeng, director of the Academic Committee of the Culture Development Institute of the Communication University of China, offered his insights on this transfer of power, saying: “Delegate what the market should do to the market, and leave what the public can do to the public – in this way we can create a favorable policy environment for the development of our cultural industry.”

Cultural Services for All

As China’s private cultural industry booms, the country is also pushing forward progress in its public cultural sector. A mechanism to ensure the smooth operation of public cultural institutions has been established, with funding proportionately allocated by central and local finance. Across the country, art museums, public libraries and cultural centers have opened to the public free of charge, and a public cultural service network has been developed to cover urban and rural areas.

Currently, 96.31 percent of China’s population has access to radio and 97.23 percent to television services. A total of 300,000 libraries have been set up in rural areas, including 200,000 in the western and central provinces. So far China has over 2,400 county-level public libraries – 87.16 percent coverage. There are also 2,862 county-level cultural centers, covering all counties in the country, and more than 38,000 cultural centers in towns and townships, providing services to 94.8 percent of the local population.

The Party proposed at the Third Plenary Session to improve the public cultural service system and increase service efficiency. It also pledged to complete the building of a public cultural service network by 2020. Minister of Culture Cai Wu was quoted as saying, “To ensure equal access to basic public cultural services at the people’s convenience, we strive to explore new paths in our work, speed up the supply of cultural products, and increase service efficiency, so as to meet the cultural needs of people of different social backgrounds and in different areas.”

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