China's cultural trade reaching new heights

Chinese publications, TV series, games, animations, and designs are becoming more popular abroad, accelerating at a global pace.

The country's foreign cultural trade saw a robust growth of 38.7 percent year-on-year to hit $200 billion (1.35 trillion yuan) last year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

In 2021, the import and export volume of cultural products reached $155.8 billion, an increase of 43.4 percent on the previous year. Additionally the figure of cultural services increased by 24.3 percent to $44.22 billion.

"The US, UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Japan are the main destinations for the Chinese cultural market," said the People's Daily.

The cultural trade between China and the countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative has been expanding in recent years. The import and export of publications, arts and crafts, collectibles and cultural articles are growing rapidly.

In July, the MOC has coordinated with 26 other government departments to issue a guideline to promote the high-quality development of foreign cultural trade.

"China's export of cultural products has been among the top in the world for many years, and a number of internationally influential cultural enterprises, products and brands have been formed," the People's Daily said.

Soundking Group, a manufacturer of sound equipment, took the 16th spot in a list of top 225 professional audio product and musical instrument industries in the world last year, according to Music Trades, an international authoritative magazine.

Online games and e-sports products are becoming the forerunner of Chinese cultural products to go abroad.

"The actual sales of China's independently developed games in overseas markets reached $8.99 billion, an increase of 6.16 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year," said the People's Daily, citing the China Audio-video and Digital publishing Association

"Chinese cultural products have gained certain global competitiveness in the digital cultural fields such as online games, with the mobile animation standards and digital art display leading the industry standard," said the People's Daily, citing Li Jiashan, associate dean of China Institute for Service Trade at the Beijing International Studies University.

"The country has rolled out a series of encouraging and guiding measures, including support to develop new business forms such as digital art, cloud exhibition, and immersive experiences. Cultivating export competitive advantages in fields such as online literature, digital publishing, online broadcasting, and e-sports; as well as encouraging enterprises provide printing, translation, dubbing, editing and post-production services to foreign films, cartoons and games companies at the comprehensive bonded zones," said Li.

"More measures to solve financial problems for the cultural trade enterprise are on the way," said the People's Daily.

These financial policies will support enterprises exploring overseas markets and help expand cultural services exports, as well as foster key enterprises and cultural brands. Some development funds will provide financing support to qualified cultural trade enterprises. Moreover, the qualified cultural trade enterprises will also enjoy tax reduction and tax exemption policies.