Expanding culture is essential to end poverty, lawmaker says

Some national legislators at the annual legislative session in Beijing said that cultural development should be part of China's anti-poverty drive and urged the government to allocate more cultural resources to the rural poor.

"In many regions, people are poor not only materially but also culturally," said Li Hui, a national lawmaker who is also director of Hunan province's Department of Culture.

"For every 100 yuan ($15) a farmer spent in 2015, less than 3 yuan went on entertainment, buying books and magazines or any other cultural activity," Li said, citing figures from a survey conducted by the provincial cultural authorities.

Pointing to "inadequate" public cultural resource distribution in Hunan, Li noted that there are only 22 libraries that can provide normal reading and lending services in 123 counties. Among the poorest 51 counties there are only three theaters.

Hunan is home to at least 4 million people living below the poverty line - 2,300 yuan in annual income, measured in 2010 value.

This year, the province will set up pilot cultural centers for 400 villages, each with an outlay of about 300,000 yuan, to make sure rural residents have places to dance, watch performances and play basketball, she said.

Central authorities have set a goal of reducing poverty for 70 million people, vowing that by 2020 all the country's remaining poor will have adequate food and clothing, along with access to compulsory education, basic medical services and housing.

"Equally important is to promote cultural and ethical progress and to have the poor stand more on their own to step out of poverty," Li said.

"Instead of relying on themselves, some of them have opted to wait and depend on assistance."

In addition to providing financing, training and other tangible aid, the government should build up the morale of the people by tapping local cultural resources, Li said.

Last week, Long Changchun, a national legislator from Guizhou province, said it was important to kindle - through education - a strong desire among the poor to pursue better lives.

Zheng Xiaoxin, a National People's Congress deputy from Sichuan province, said public cultural facilities in poor rural areas such as libraries, museums and cinemas should be upgraded to enrich people's cultural lives.

Beyond that, cultural activities should play a role in expanding the horizons of the disadvantaged, bolstering their confidence to help themselves out of dire straits, Zheng said, adding that cultural aid programs should become a new driver in the country's poverty-alleviation efforts.

So far, in many parts of China, staffers from cultural departments have not been included among urban and rural planning design authorities who supervise overall infrastructure design, Li said.

"This situation must be changed. Cultural officials should be part of the decision-making, just as environmental protection officials are now part of the decision-makers," she said.

In Hunan, impoverished regions are places often endowed with natural beauty or cultural heritage, she said. So the government should first help those regions build public cultural facilities and provide professionals to help locals make full use of those facilities.

Second, special funds should be earmarked for the regions to help protect cultural relics and develop tourism, she said, since rural tourism will lead to sales of cultural products emanating from the local heritage - for example, souvenirs based on local ancient architecture or other intangible items.