China culture sector will become a key part of the country’s economy in the next few years, accounting for up to 5% of GDP by 2016. This is the view of China’s Minister of Culture, Cai Wu who told Xinhua in a recent interview that a new national cultural reform bill will boost the development of the sector.
“The goal of reform is to cultivate qualified market entities from the government-run commercial cultural organisations and establish a modern and influential cultural industry system,” Cai told the state-run news agency.
China’s cultural sector amounted to more than CNY1.1 trillion (US$171.7 billion) in 2010, or 2.8% of GDP. Cai now wants to almost double this contribution, saying that emphasis must be placed on the development of “books, newspapers and magazines, digital audio and video publications, performing, entertainment, TV series and movies, and cartoons”.
He also called for the increased promotion of Chinese culture worldwide, as well as stressing the need for China to “actively absorb and learn the excellent achievements of foreign cultures”.