Op-Ed Contributors

Toward culture of quality

By Zhang Xiaoming (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-21 07:07

President Hu Jintao's recent speech on promoting the reform and development of the cultural industry shows how much importance the government attaches to China's cultural construction, especially its social function. In my opinion, the cultural industry's reform is undoubtedly the greatest impetus for its development, as well as the promotion of its cultural products.

The reform has helped release the repressed potential of the industry and led to a sharp increase in the marketing of cultural products within a short time. For instance, the performance of plays and other programs in theaters increased to several hundred a year immediately after the reform started.

Supportive policies have promoted the development of the emerging sectors of animation and comics. It will undoubtedly result in a boom of creative cultural products. More and more people have been encouraged to take part in cultural activities. Last year, the authorities described private publishing houses as the "advanced productivity centers of the cultural industry". The fact that there are more than 4,000 private publishers against only 500 State-owned publishing organizations, and most of the bestsellers come from the former makes it important that private forces are encouraged to enter the publishing sector.

Another important aim of the cultural industry reform is to establish a public cultural service system. It is directly related to guaranteeing the public basic cultural rights and interests, especially in the rural and underdeveloped areas. The supply of cultural products to such areas is weak because the income of people there is low. Such areas lack cultural infrastructure, too. It's the authorities' responsibility to build proper cultural centers in such areas in order to ensure people there have access to quality cultural programs.

The government has laid down strict assessment criteria for the public cultural service system, especially on cultural infrastructure. Partly thanks to the rapid growth in the government's fiscal revenue, plans are being successfully implemented to "extend radio and TV services to every village".

These factors are signs that the reform will usher in a period of rapid and healthy growth for the cultural industry.

The author is a researcher with the Center for Cultural Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The article is a transcript of an interview he gave to China Daily reporter Wang Yiqing.

China Forum

(China Daily 08/21/2010 page5)