Hunan's capital spreads its wings to B&R countries

Hunan provincial capital Changsha is taking active steps to share its unique history, culture and traditions with countries involved in Belt and Road Initiative, by incubating and developing its cultural creative industry.

The city has formed an advanced multiplatform multimedia export system covering print, radio, television, animation, performing arts, and crafts.

The treasures of Changsha's culture and history have long been appreciated by locals, but now the city is spreading the fruits of its civilization to the rest of the world, led by cultural export enterprises such as China South Publishing and Media Group (CNS) and Liuyang Fireworks.

They are joined by animation enterprises and companies producing famous national brands such as Hunan embroidery and porcelain. CNS, a large comprehensive publishing and media group based in Changsha, was endorsed by capital markets on May 15 this year, when it was added to MSCI's market indexes. MSCI Inc is the world's top index provider.

Via its vast multimedia and publishing network, CNS has been expanding the scale and scope of its cultural output and exchange through cooperation with well-known international publishing and media enterprises, such as Kadokawa in Japan, and McGraw-Hill Education in the United States.

Ding Shuangping, director and general manager of CNS, said that besides its acquisition of quality resources, CNS is promoting the research and development of new cultural products and the building of new platforms.

The fireworks produced in Liuyang, Changsha, occupy a leading position in the global market and are used at various galas and festivals the world over during Christmas and New Year celebrations. Liuyang fireworks were used at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai World Expo. According to the data provided by the Liuyang Municipal Fireworks and Firecrackers Administration Bureau, the total output value of the fireworks industry in Liuyang was 22.82 billion yuan ($3.59 billion) in 2017, an increase of 9.7 percent year-on-year, with export sales of 3.15 billion yuan, an increase of 14.1 percent over the same period of 2016.

hanlu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/21/2018 page10)