By Su Xuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-01-17 07:23

The Supergirl contests, Blue Cat cartoons, Tian Han Theater, and Xiangxi minority cultures, are like name cards for Hunan, a province with a big cultural market and resources.

But being big is not enough. Hunan has another goal: to become a province with one of the strongest cultural industries in China, a blueprint of the ninth CPC (Communist Party of China) Hunan provincial congress.

Why does Hunan have such a goal?

The province has abundant cultural resources: Hunan is the birthplace of many celebrities from the ancient poet Qu Yuan more than 2,000 years ago to the People's Republic's founder Mao Zedong. From the ancient city of Chengtoushan to the tomb of Emperor Yan, a legendary tribal leader and one of the ancestors of the Chinese. It is also noted for its Chu culture and the Hunan School of Confucians.

Hunan authorities have been trying to play up these quality cultural resources and reform existing cultural institutions.

They have made broadcasting and publications as two engines of the cultural industry, supported by the media and entertainment. At the same time, both State-owned and private businesses are encouraged to compete fairly and equally, so that mutual prosperity is achieved.

Another approach that Hunan has adopted is to develop cultural businesses according to different local conditions. The three industrial belts - the Jingguang railway, the Xiangjiang River, and Xiangxi - are being formed to retain their own characteristics.

The growth of Hunan's cultural industry has been momentous. Last year, the industry generated an economic output of 87 billion yuan ($11.76 billion) and added value of 44 billion yuan, rising by 20 billion yuan and 10 billion yuan respectively.

In 2006, Hunan ranked 13th among all provincial regions in China in terms of GDP, but its cultural industry ranked sixth. In this sense, Hunan is a big province in terms of its cultural industry.

But a big industry does not mean being strong or competitive, so Hunan has decided to transform the industry into one of the strongest and most competitive in China.

How do we achieve that?

Although the industry has made significant achievements, we also face problems like lack of a smooth administrative system, limited sources of financing, unsatisfactory industrial structures, and imbalance in regional development. These are symptoms of development not in harmony, and are obstacles to it becoming a powerful cultural province.

First, we should promote reform of the cultural institutions and create a harmonious environment for development. We should establish a cultural administration agency to unify and simplify administration, supervision and macro-management of State-owned companies; transform the functions of government agencies from running cultural enterprises to administering them; and give full freedom to cultural enterprises in their operations.

Second, we should expand the financing channels and create a fund-raising mechanism. One solution is to set up industrial and venture capital funds. Another is to allocate part of government budgets or cultural venue fees as funds for development.

The government should get involved to guide and support large projects. Private enterprises should also be allowed to set up their own cultural development funds. Qualified enterprises should be given access to direct financing, such as corporate bonds or issuing stocks.

Enterprises should enjoy different tax rates according to the priorities of the government.

Third, we should upgrade the industrial structure and build a harmonious cultural industry. Currently, the industry is mainly based on traditional culture, we need to diversify. We should boost content businesses, and promote digitalized and online media.

Enterprises should be encouraged to build high-tech cultural tourism facilities. The government should give strong support to the cartoon and animation sectors, trading in artifacts, exhibitions, festivals, and arts education.

Fourth, we should make full use of our regional advantages. Hunan has rich cultural resources, but the commercial value does not do it justice. The province should study the cultural characteristics of different regions and incorporate them to its advantage.

Local governments should prioritize sectors according to their respective strengths and strive to make the cultural industry an important backbone of the province.

The author is an official with the publicity department of CPC Hunan provincial committee

(China Daily 01/17/2008 page8)