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.