Cultural and creative sector grow in Capital

The cultural and creative sector has become Beijing's second-largest industry after finance, according to findings from the Third National Economic Census released on Tuesday.

The findings show the volumes of cultural and creative sector, such as cultural and art, news publishing, broadcast, film and television, and tourism, generated in the capital city surging 257 percent from 2005 to 2013. The sector accounted for 12.3 percent of the nation's GDP last year, rising from 9.7 percent in 2005.

Cultural consumption, such as art trading, jumped seven-fold compared to 2008. Some emerging cultural sectors like new media in the mobile internet age, expanded at a proliferating rate and contributed 36.4 percent to the total revenue of the cultural and creative industry, the findings showed.

The census shows from January to October, the cultural and creative sector in Beijing achieved revenues worth 829.76 billion yuan ($133.8 billion), a 9.3 percent rise on the same period last year. From January to November, about 26,000 new cultural enterprises were set up in Beijing, a 53.6 percent jump over last year.

"The development of cultural and creative sector fits the positioning of the capital city. It needs to accelerate its growth," said Liu Shaojian, deputy director of State-owned Cultural Assets Supervision and Administrative Office of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality.

By 2020, Beijing plans to establish 20 cultural functional areas, which will contribute to more than 80 percent of the total cultural revenues.

According to the report, the city is aiming to set up one to two pillar cultural neighborhoods that would operate in a fashion as Zhongguancun Science Park for the technology sector.

In addition, the report finds that strategic emerging industries such as biological, energy-saving and environmental protection, and high-end equipment manufacturing also excelled by creating large numbers of new companies and jobs.

Wu Wanbiao, deputy director of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, said structural changes are now taking place in the city's economy that are offering companies the opportunity to transform and upgrade their operations.