Culture growing into strong pillar of China's economy

By Zhu Wenqian ( China Daily )

Updated: 2016-04-18

A senior worker teaches her apprentice how to make a Guangdong embroidery (yuexiu) art product at a silk products company in Guangzhou, Guangdong province.CHEN XIAOTIE / FOR CHINA DAILY

In the past few years, China has emerged as the world's largest cultural goods exporter in value terms.

For instance, in 2013, China exported cultural goods worth $60.1 billion, more than double that of the United States, whose exports were worth $27.9 billion.

But China lacks in domestic brands that can create a profound impact on the global cultural goods market. The scarcity can be attributed to market barriers and late start of the Chinese culture industries, said experts.

China's main cultural goods and services include gold jewelry, art (statues, paintings), crafts (pottery, chinaware), music, dance, cinematographic products, travel, sports, education, entertainment and handicraft (wood-craft, artisans' creations, handloom cloth, metal art).

According to data of the Ministry of Culture, the actual consumption level for cultural products and services is around 1 trillion yuan ($154 billion) now. But the potential is there to boost the figure to 4.7 trillion yuan in the near future.