Rising cultural industry boosts Guangdong's soft power

GUANGZHOU, China, Oct. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/--

And the latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics of China show that, in 2016, the added value of cultural industry and related industries in Guangdong hit 425.66 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 16.67%, the highest growth rate in the past five years. The sector accounted for 5.26% of the province's GDP and 1/7 of the total amount of the nation's cultural industry, making it a pillar industry in the province.

Further supply-side structural reform to spur cultural industry's development

"China's cultural industry has grown prosperously, which makes us more confident. We have strong feelings about China's strong soft power," said an official from the Publicity Department of CPC Guangdong Committee.

The concept of cultural confidence was first put forward by the Chinese government, and special attention has been paid to cultural soft power. Guangdong has made great efforts to develop the creative industry and other industries with higher value-added in the core layer. The structure of its cultural industry was optimized and the core competence of Guangdong's cultural industry has been greatly improved. 

In 2016, Guangdong focused on "Culture Plus" and "Internet Plus". For example, China's first omnimedia giant, Southern Finance Omnimedia Corporation (S.F.C.) was established in Guangzhou, developing three core businesses, namely media, data and trading. Multiple cultural innovation projects were set up by media, such as "China Free Trade Zone Info Port". All these led to the deep integration of traditional media and new media as well as to the expansion of the cultural industry. 

"The accelerated development of Guangdong's cultural industry has resulted from our efforts in supply-side structural reform of the industry." said Yang Pengfei, Director of the Development and Reform Office of the Publicity Department of CPC Guangdong Committee. Guangdong's high value-added cultural industry has been developing rapidly and accounted for 53% of the cultural industry in 2016, a 10% increase over 2013. That is a success of the industry's supply-side structural reform.

In the meantime, the layout of Guangdong's cultural industry saw improvement. Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as core cities, have been playing leading roles and developing clusters of creative cultural industries. Other cities in the Pearl River Delta focus on developed industries in the regions, such as printing and other cultural equipment. In the less developed areas such as east, west and north Guangdong, some tour itineraries with strong local charms were developed.

Internet cultural industry with international competitiveness

The top three most popular apps in China are WeChat, QQ and KuGou, as well as many popular mobile games are from Guangdong. Guangdong's internet cultural industry has become a pillar sector of cultural industry in the province. In 2016, the province saw an explosive growth of for-profit Internet cultural units with the largest number of subjects in China.

As Guangzhou and Shenzhen accelerated the construction of the national demonstration bases for culture and technology integration, the province saw leading cultural enterprises mushroom and new cultural industries take shape in the country.

In 2016, the output value of Guangdong's digital publishing industry reached 180 billion Yuan, ranking first in China; the animation industry, 40 billion Yuan, accounting for over one third of the national total. The province's industrial output value of online music accounted for almost 50% of the national total; and its revenue of game industry amounted to 134.5 billion Yuan, making up for 73.4% of the nation's total and 37.5% of the Asia-Pacific's total; the output value of game and entertainment equipment accounted for 80% of the nation's total.

According to the Department of Commerce of Guangdong, currently the province has a variety of leading export enterprises and brands in cultural industry such as publishing, animation game, creative design and cultural equipment manufacturing, and their products have been exported to over 160 countries and regions. In particular, the export volume of games has reached 17.6 billion Yuan and they are sold to over 100 countries and regions.  

In 2016, the import and export volume of Guangdong's cultural products reached 43.79 billion USD with the export volume amounted to 41.81 billion USD, ranking first in all provinces of the country with a trade surplus of 39.83 billion USD.

Integrated development of cultural and financial industries

Early in 2017, the newly established S.F.C. signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Construction Bank (CCB) to jointly launch a fund of 10 billon yuan for Guangdong's media and cultural industry. 

With the help of the Publicity Department of CPC Guangdong Committee, Guangdong has launched within two years three 10-billion-Yuan funds for the cultural industry in the provincial publicity system.

Last year in November, the Publicity Department of CPC Guangdong Committee signed the "Culture+Finance" Strategic Cooperation Agreement with SPD Bank to discover a new model for integrated development of cultural and financial industries. SPD Bank will provide Guangdong's cultural enterprises as well as cultural industry groups with no less than 50-billon-yuan intentional investment and financing quotas. 

In the past two years, the Publicity Department of CPC Guangdong Committee has facilitated over 200-billon-yuan credits granted to the province's cultural enterprises, injecting enormous energy into the transformation and development of the cultural industry.

The effect of "culture + finance" is expanding obviously as a large number of cultural investment funds have been rapidly established. Zhujiang Film Group and Yuexiu Group jointly established a 5-billon-yuan investment fund. And with 5 billion yuan investment, the "Gollywood", a film and television base located in Foshan, Guangdong, has attracted over 130 film and television teams around the world within one year.

In addition, cities of Guangdong customize related loan guarantee programs, and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship in the cultural industry. A batch of cultural industrial parks in the province, such as Dongguan Creative Industry Center Park and Shunde Idea, introduce small loan companies in order to timely release loans to the small and micro cultural enterprises.

The integration between culture, finance and technology inject innovative element to the industrial structure and boost the development of Guangdong's cultural industry. 

Officials of the Publicity Department of CPC Guangdong Committee said Guangdong will build a development model for the cultural industry driven by innovation, continuously develop the industry and show the cultural confidence in global competition. 

SOURCE Information Office of Guangdong Provincial Government of China