Life and Leisure

Opening the cultural market for business

By Cheng Yingqi (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-17 13:57

Though the country has yet to confirm to open its cultural market sometime next year, domestic cultural organizations are revving up for the change. Many are hopeful it will up the ante on competition, enabling the local market to produce better cultural products.

"Cultural goods are important to the service trade, and these two sectors are mutually reinforcing," Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian said in July.

Service accounts for about 15 percent of the country's trade volume, a "relatively low" proportion, Yao says. "Because cultural products are unique, trade restrictions are adopted in many countries, including some in Europe."

China last year had 384 million Internet users, 1.94 million people working in the cultural and entertainment industries, and 69.31 million online gamers. It also brought in 6 billion yuan ($882.6 million) in box office income, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences figures show.

But the market's vastness has resulted in a trade deficit. Income from cultural imports exceeded that from exports seven times over in 2008 and by twofold last year, China Youth Daily reported in March.

"That's because China's top artists are working for State-owned troupes, where there hadn't been cut-throat competition," says Gu Xin, general manager of the Oriental Performing Arts Group, which was the China National Oriental Song and Dance Company before it was reformed last November.

China's Cultural System Reform started in 2003, when the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the Ministry of Culture and the General Administration of Press and Publication decided to transform cultural institutions into enterprises and encourage privatization.

Consequently, 288 troupes had finished structural reform by the first half of 2010, and the Ministry of Culture has announced plans this year to extend the reforms nationwide.

As a result, more than 420 troupes gave 16,000 performances abroad, earning more than 76 million yuan and marking the sector's fastest-ever growth.

In addition, 99 percent of the 528 government-owned publishing houses have finished reforms. Liu Binjie, head of the General Administration of Press and Publication, says comprehensive restructuring will be completed by the end of the year.

"Bringing in shareholders will boost cultural industries' development because it provides adequate funding for new technologies," Xinhua Bookstore's Shandong branch president Liu Qiang was quoted by China Youth Daily.

The US government in 2007 filed a complaint with the WTO, claiming China had breached its commitment to the organization to open up sales and distribution.

The Chinese government had designated the responsibility of importing and distributing foreign audiovisual products to China Film Group and Huaxia Film Distribution.

The WTO's dispute settlement panel ruled China's practices were inconsistent with international trade rules. China formally accepted the decision on July 16.

China Daily