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Nanjing knows benefits of cultural industries

By Wu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-08 15:12

The Nanjing municipal government is continuing to emphasize development of culture with the goal of "building Nanjing into a culturally rich city."

At the end of 2005, when the 11th Five-Year Program (2006-2010) was formulated, the government designated the period as an important time in the development of both State-owned and private cultural organizations.

As well, significant funding has been approved to improve management and meet the public's demands for better cultural facilities.

Nanjing now boasts a number of quality facilities including the Olympic Sports Center and the new Jinling Library.

Today the city has 66 museums, exhibition halls and memorial halls, 20 libraries, 16 cultural centers and more than 200 citizen squares.

It also has a large resource of artistic talent. In the 10th Five-Year Program (2001-2005) period, 280 of various artworks created in the city received national awards.

To encourage the production of quality art and foster cultural excellence, 10 talented artists and 10 works are selected by voting every three years.

The rich cultural atmosphere in the city is enhanced by heavy spending by the local government on organization of festivals every year.

Local residents can enjoy the Jinling Chorus Festival, the Nanjing Art Festival, the Plum Blossom Festival and other cultural activities.

Nanjing's wall paintings, sculptures and cultural squares have become a distinctive feature of the city that portray its history and culture.

Starting from 2005, the government spent 3 million yuan ($439,206) each year on quality domestic and overseas TV programming to entertain the public.

In 2007, 234 million yuan was put into the development of cultural facilities. Now 15 museums, exhibition halls and memorial halls are open to the public free of charge.

In 2007, a total of 20 million yuan was invested in building and renovation of 15 recreational facilities that have improved the quality of residents' free time.

Over the past few years the rapid development of the cartoon and animation industry, cultural creative industries and other industrial branches have contributed to the burgeoning sector.

The production value of cultural industries in 2007 reached 11.17 billion yuan, an annual increase of 23 per cent and accounting for 3.4 percent of the city's GDP.

Journalism and publishing, leisure and tourism, and film and television sectors have also registered strong growth. Nanjing Broadcast and TV Group generated revenues of 1 billion yuan for the first time in its history last year.

Figures show journalism and publishing had revenues of 11 billion in 2007, while tourism had a turnover of 61.5 billion yuan.

Exhibitions and conferences also saw a large increase in business. More than 6,400 events were held in Nanjing, an increase of 35 percent year-on-year, following only Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Building of cultural industrial parks is also on the rise - there are now 41 such parks and 18 cultural industry centers, with about 100 more under construction.

Statistics show that 72.2 percent of members in the Cultural Creative Industry Association and 68.7 percent of Cartoon and Animation Industry Association members are private enterprises.

Other plans call for establishment of a Nanjing culture development fund as well as building more public cultural facilities and submission of the Nanjing City Wall for listing as a World Heritage Site.

To further develop the cultural industry, a marketing network is planned, while private and overseas investment is encouraged.

Culture industrial parks will be used as a platform for enterprises to expand their production chain and become more competitive, with number of large enterprises foreseen as emerging through alliance, mergers and restructuring.

Creativity plays a role in industrial development, so city planners will encourage the partnership of cultural and creative industries.

Design exhibitions and creativity contests will be organized to encourage more people to join the industry.

Administrators will make plans together with the Research Center of Cultural Industry at Nanjing University for a blueprint for the next five years.

A view of Nanjing Confucius Temple in Jiangsu Province