More and more money has been flowing into the cultural sector. (File Photo)
THE MONEY FLOW
The reform not only brought changes within the market players, but also vitality to the market itself as a whole.
More and more money has been flowing into the cultural sector and enjoyed more freedom.
In 2010, governments at all levels invested more than 150 billion yuan in cultural development, doubling that of 2006. Governments of Beijing, Jilin and Hainan have all set up special funds for culture projects, and the investment has expanded year by year, with other inflows coming from private companies and investment funds.
PRIVATE PARTICIPATION
Restrictions on private capital were gradually lifted, and it was made specific that social capital investment was encouraged to enter into such sectors as movie production and distribution, broadcasting and publishing, among others.
Private capital has played an increasingly important role in China's cultural industry.
In 2010, private companies contributed more than half of the cultural sector's value added and two thirds of the jobs in the cultural sector. By April 2011, private businesses had accounted for over 90 percent of the entire 357,000 publishing organizations in China.
THE CONTENT BOOM
Increased commercialization of the cultural sector has also brought diversified content.
According to a government report, the number of publications has soared in recent years, with over eight thousand magazines, more than two thousand newspapers, and some 300 television stations in China.
China has become the world's third-largest film maker after Bollywood and Hollywood, with 526 feature films made in 2010, up 15 percent from 2009.
The total output of China's animation industry ran into 228,000 minutes in 2010, making China overtake Japan to become the world's largest animation production center.
China's overall variety of books, volume of books published and circulation of daily newspapers have all topped the world.
A PROSPERING INDUSTRY
Owing to the cultural system reform, China's cultural sector has had an entirely new look and has been prospering.
The industry's value added increased 24.2 percent annually from 2008 to 2010, much faster than GDP growth, according to the 2011 blue paper on China's cultural industry compiled by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). The number reached 1.1 trillion yuan ($172 billion) in 2010, accounting for 2.75 percent of the GDP, and the percentage is expected to be 5 percent by 2015, a number that signifies a new pillar industry of Chinese economy.
"The cultural industry, which eats through few resources but bears substantial fruits, plays a key role in China's economic transition, as the conflicts between resources and development has become more evident in recent years," Qi Yongfeng, a professor and the Research Director at the School of Cultural Industries of the Communication University of China, told this journalist.
"As China's per capita income surpassed $3,000 in 2008 and $5,000 in 2011, it is the right time to develop the cultural sector into a pillar of the national economy. Cultural industry will have a prosperous future in China."
After 30 years of manufacturing prosperity, "Made in China" is upgrading to a new "Created in China" version. The cultural industry is emerging as a new engine in driving China's economy.
One decade after the 16th CPC National Congress, the chapter is closing. The final brush will not mark the ending of a glories history, but only the beginning, the beginning of a golden journey to China's cultural renaissance.♦
Read on: Part III: A Vision of Innovation
Li Zhenyu authors the "Golden Decade" column for People's Daily Online.
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