A spectacular night view of Bayterek Square, the center of Kazakhstan's capital Astana

To realize this objective, Kazakhstan plans to persistently allocate funds to the cultural sector. It has implemented extensive measures for cultural reform to facilitate all departments in this sector. This has created favorable conditions to promote culture and has subsequently intensified mutual assistance to and cooperation with artistic intelligentsia unions and other mass organizations of litterateurs and artists.

One of the key tasks for the country's cultural sector is to protect its historical and cultural heritages and return them to their original appearance, as well as reinvigorate the country. Historical sites actually serve as threads connecting generations of people by protecting and developing unique cultural traditions and values.

As the most important cultural heritage, historical relics are endowed with significant social functions, which contribute to developing science, education and culture, cultivating patriotic feelings, and providing ideological, moral and aesthetic education.

Kazakhstan boasts a thousand-year-old history and rich culture, and is a significant component of the global civilizational treasure house. In terms of the number and diversity of historical relics, Kazakhstan is close to India, China, and the Mediterranean and Near Eastern countries. It is practically an open-air museum in a class by itself.

A mass of architectural relics show that the ancient tribes inhabiting the area, including the Scythians, Sakas, Sarmatians, Huns, Uisuns, Kangly (1,000 B.C.), Turks, Karluks, Og'uz, and Kypchaks, had fairly developed farming and nomadic cultures.

Kazakhstan's cultural heritage incorporates the rich cultural treasures of the people living in the land. They comprise 25,000 immovable historical sites, archeological relics, architectural monuments, 2.56 million pieces of cultural relics exhibited or stored in 89 national museums, as well as 66.84 million volumes of books, rare manuscripts and publications stored in 3,495 national libraries.

Kazakhstan also has 147 museums and nature conservatories.

Astana, the capital city, is home to the President Culture Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The supporting facilities comprise the History Museum, Public Library, Concert Hall, National Gold and Noble Metal Museum, the Astana Modern Art Museum, and a museum housing the works of the famous writer Saken Seifullin.

In order to protect the unique architecture and cliff paintings in the landscape of the Tamgaly area in Almaty Province, Kazakhstan established the National Tamgaly History, Culture and Nature Conservation Museum.

In June 2004, the National Science Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan was opened in Astana.

Media sector

Kazakhstan has 2,116 permanent mass media organizations, 80 percent of them being non-state-owned. It has 1,918 printed media houses, comprising 1,327 newspaper offices and 591 magazine agencies. In addition, it has 187 electronic media institutions, comprising 147 TV stations and TV & broadcast stations, 40 broadcast stations, and 11 news agencies.

In addition to social and political publications, Kazakhstan is flooded with information-based reading materials, ads, popular science reading materials, women's periodicals, youth reading materials, religious reading materials, children's reading materials, professional publications and other reading materials.

Kazakhstan has two exclusively state-owned publishing companies - Kazakh Newspapers Co Ltd and "Elorda" Press.

Each year, Kazakhstan holds a series of activities, such as Eurasia International Film Festival and "Stars of Shaken" International Film Festival.

Cultural co-op

Kazakhstan is vigorously expanding bilateral and multilateral cooperation with other parts of the world in the fields of culture, art, information and archives. To facilitate cooperation, Kazakhstan has signed over 50 international treaties, agreements and cooperation programs with foreign countries and international organizations from 1992 to 2006.

Skilled Kazakh artistic workers are active participants at international culture festivals and competitions. Kazakhstan's museums arrange exhibitions of elaborate ancient cultural and artistic works in world famous museums. Besides, its outstanding performance teams also stage shows abroad.

Courtesy of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in China

(China Daily 10/15/2007 page7)