Release the culture genie

To thrive Chinese culture needs much more than a favorable regulatory or financial framework.

The strength of culture comes from freedom of the mind more than the overflowing of capital. That is the underpinning that was left untouched at a key leadership meeting earlier this week.

It caught many by surprise that a plenary session of the Communist Party of China Central Committee threw its weight behind such a seemingly fluffy and perennially vague issue as culture. Anyway, feeding a population of 1.3 billion is no easy task and now, entertaining them has emerged as a growing necessity. But, as the event seems to indicate, there is a sense that there is money to be made here and the authorities are ready to lend their support.