Fostering creative, cultural industries

Luo Bao Bei, a cartoon image of a small girl with black hair and a red dress, has become an ambassador spreading traditional Chinese culture through her kindness to friends.

"The girl represents the spirit of 'loving all the living things in the world'," said Su Zhong, president of the Beijing Cultural and Creative Industry Investment Association and chairman of Daye Transmedia Group, a Beijing-based company with 20 years' experience in film, TV opera and cartoons.

Created in 2008, the image of Luo Bao Bei is derived from the Goddess Luo, a warm-hearted young goddess who according to Chinese legend used to teach villagers life skills such as hunting and weaving.

"In our films and videos, Luo is an ordinary Chinese girl, who is always willing to help others," Su said.

"The sprit is one of the core values of traditional culture, which we want to spread to the whole world. It is aimed at bringing happiness to every family and helping children grow up healthily, by telling the stories of this small girl," he explained.

Luo Bao Bei became the mascot of the China Women's Development Forum in 2013 and the Chinese Red Cross Foundation in 2009.

Now she is a mascot for a construction project in Chaoyang district, Beijing.

Su said that the new cartoon series is going to be shot for both TV and the internet in China and the United Kingdom beginning in January 2017, in cooperation with a British company. "Good cultural products are nutrients to people's mental world, while bad ones are like opium," he said.

"Beijing is the national center of the cultural and creative industry, which generates rich soil for culture-related enterprises to grow and prosper," he added.

Su said Chaoyang district has more than 30,000 cultural and creative companies, among which many are small and medium-sized enterprises in need of financial support.

"As culture is closely related to individuals, it's difficult to form an industrial cluster in this field.

"Investors tend to be interested in tangible assets and the development of culture is therefore blocked due to the lack of funds.

"I hope people will begin to realize the value of intangible assets, which have large potential and will benefit the whole of society in the long run," he said.

As one of the major achievements of Beijing's pilot program for further opening-up the service sector, a three-year project aiming to promote the service industry in Beijing, Daye Transmedia Group completed China's first financial leasing business for intangible assets with Beijing Culture and Technology Financial Leasing Co Ltd in 2013.

Li Zhongqiu, general manager of the strategic development division of Beijing Culture and Technology Financial Leasing Co Ltd, said the company was founded under the guidance of the local government to meet the financial demand of cultural enterprises with a more flexible mode of leasing.

"It's difficult for small and medium-sized cultural enterprises to seek financing.

"To solve the problem, we applied an innovative leasing model to help transform ideas into real artistic works, as a way of promoting the development of the cultural industry in Beijing," Li said.

(China Daily 11/29/2016 page15)