BEIJING, May 15 -- Ministry of Culture on Thursday released a statistical communique on culture development in 2013, showing vigorous growth in the cultural industry.

The document said the country has been improving public services on culture. By the end of 2013, the total collection of books owned by public libraries reached 749 million, up by 8.8 percent.

A total of 116,274 electronic reading terminals were installed in the libraries, up by 14.6 percent, while the number of E-books reached 378 million.

In the meantime, 206 million people borrowed books, a growth of 18.1 percent year on year.

By the end of 2013, the number of performing arts troupes reached 8,180, an increase of 859 since the previous year, which employed 260,900 staff, up by 18,800, the communique said.

The number of performances surged by 22.3 percent year on year, reaching 1.65 million last year, most of which were staged in communities, rural areas and other grass-roots units in over 100 cities in 20 provinces.

In 2013, the ministry strengthened performance evaluation at cultural industry parks where 43 animation enterprises were identified as leading enterprises by Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation.

By the end of 2013, the credit balance of cultural industry loans was 157.4 billion yuan (25.3 billion U.S. dollars), up by 36.3 percent annually. Seventy-seven cultural enterprises went public in the capital markets of Shanghai and Shenzhen, said the communique.

By the end of 2013, business units in the national cultural market reached 226,584, hiring about 1.45 million people. Total revenue reached 136.7 billion yuan, with a gross profit of 35.1 billion yuan.

In 2013, the central government continued to subsidize non-profit and public cultural projects such as free art museums, libraries, cultural centers and protection of intangible cultural heritage.

Special funding from the central budget reached 4.6 billion yuan, up by 11.2 percent, according to the ministry communique.