The Dehong Conference on Publicity and Culture Building opened in Mangshi on Feb 28, 2011.

Zhao Jin, general-secretary of the Dehong Party Committee remarked that, starting this year, 5 million yuan will be allocated to develop the cultural industry of the prefecture each year, and RMB 3 million will be put into public cultural causes.

Zhao said that Dehong must make full use of its colorful ethnic cultural resources, rich natural resources and profound historical cultural resources to produce highly competitive art products. He also expressed his hope that the percentage of cultural industry in Dehong’s total output value will exceed 9 percent by 2015.

In terms of cultural activities, Zhao said Dehong should use festival activities such as the Water-Splashing Festival and the Munao Sing Party as a platform to develop a unique tourism cultural industry.

He also stressed that top priority should be given to the 2011 international Water-Splashing Festival, which will be held in April.

Regarding the construction of cultural facilities, he also said Dehong should speed up the building of a series of projects including museums, libraries, and ethnic theatres.

According to Zhao, Dehong should also vigorously develop the jewelry industry by pressing ahead with its jewelry design, processing and transaction projects, make more efforts to develop the rosewood processing industry, and focus on nurturing 3-5 influential enterprises engaged in cultural industry.

By Xie Fang & Yang Rongfang