China vows to back small cultural companies

Photo taken on Feb 1, 2014 shows dough figures made by a folk artist at a temple fair to celebrate the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Intangible cultural heritages like shadow play and paper cutting attracted lots of people to the temple fair on Saturday, the second day of the seven-day break for Spring Festival. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Minister of Culture Cai Wu revealed on Monday that favorable policies for small cultural businesses are being drafted and are expected to enter effect in the first half of this year.

The ministries of culture and finance are working together to secure financial support for such companies while deepening cooperation with various financial institutions, Cai said at a press conference.

"These measures will help small cultural companies expand their businesses, boost profits and development and exert positive influence in enriching the cultural market and promoting innovation," he said.

In addition, the ministry plans to establish associations for various cultural industries to help draft guidelines for galleries, artwork authenticating, selling and other fields under the supervision of the ministry.

It will also accelerate legislative efforts, Cai vowed, citing improvements and research on rules concerning relics protection, public libraries, museums and public cultural services.