Changsha’s 5th press conference to celebrate the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up was held on December 11. The Publicity Department of the CPC Changsha Municipal Committee, and the Changsha Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Press and Publication, reported the city’s development of cultural system reform and construction of public cultural service system.

Driven by the strategy of “strengthening the city by culture”, Changsha’s cultural industry strength has continuously grown into a pillar industry.

In 2017, the output value of Changsha’s cultural industry was 286.44 billion CNY, with an added value of 90.26 billion CNY. The added value accounted for 8.84% of Changsha’s GDP. At present, there are 12 state-level cultural industrial parks (bases), 19 province-level, and 14 city-level ones; and, 22 listed cultural enterprises. In 2017, Changsha urban residents’ per capita consumption expenditure on education, culture, and entertainment reached 6,378 CNY, an increase of 11.1% over last year.

Between 1978 and 2017, Changsha’s per capita investment in public culture increased by 228 times. It has become Hunan’s first cultural well-off city, the first national standardized demonstration area of public cultural service, and Hunan’s only city that fully reached the cultural well-off standards.

Changsha has proactively implemented the national “Belt and Road” initiative and cultural “going global” strategy, to speed up its cultural “going global”.

Changsha has been awarded the “Culture City of East Asia”. It has become a member of the global “Creative Cities Network”, and the first Chinese city to win the title of “Media Art Capital”. It collaborated with UNESCO to host the International Youth Forum: Creativity and Heritage along the Silk Road for two years.

It has also established friendship relations with 50 cities of 30 countries, and organized more than 1,000 international cultural exchanges. These initiatives imparted Changsha elements, and contributed Changsha’s power, to the exchanges and mutual learning among world civilizations. 

Source: en.changsha.gov.cn