SCIO press conference on 'China's Epic Journey from Poverty to Prosperity' white paper
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 30, 2021
People's Daily:
Over the years, we have witnessed material progress as well as great changes to our cultural activities. What's your view on that? Next, what policies and measures will China adopt to meet the growing cultural needs of the people and what will be done to enrich their cultural activities? Thank you.
Xu Lin:
Let me take your questions. As for moderate prosperity in China, material progress should go hand in hand with advances in culture and ethics. The people should have sufficient food and other daily needs, but they should also conduct themselves with dignity and a strong sense of morality. In the process of realizing a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the Chinese people have made both material and cultural progress.
Changes in cultural activities can be seen in all-round cultural prosperity, the rapid development of cultural industry, as well as people engaging in more diversified and active cultural activities.
First, cultural products continued to be enriched. Excellent books, radio programs, films, television programs, literature and art works, and works in philosophy and social sciences have continued to emerge and meet the multi-level and diverse cultural needs of the people. Literature and art production has seen great progress. Book publishing has strengthened the supply of high-quality content, with more and more quality books published. Now, a reading campaign is carried out nationwide. At present, the reading rate of Chinese adults stands at 81.3%. In recent years, Chinese films have also developed rapidly. The number of cinema screens in China has reached 80,000, ranking first in the world. With a quality growth in film production, popular blockbuster hits such as "My People, My Country," "The Sacrifice," "The Pioneer," and "The Wandering Earth" have continued to emerge. The box-office number increased year-by-year, surpassing 60 billion yuan for the first time in 2018, and reaching more than 64.2 billion yuan in 2019, ranking second in the world. Despite that global box-office decline amid the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years, China's box office number topped the world last year, exceeding 20.4 billion yuan, and continued to rank first globally in the first eight months of this year, reaching 32.8 billion yuan. All these reflect cultural changes in China.
Second, public cultural services are more standardized and equally accessible, with a six-tier network of public cultural facilities being built across urban and rural areas. By the end of 2020, China had over 3,200 public libraries, 5,700 museums, 600 art galleries, 3,300 cultural centers, 32,000 township and town-level cultural stations, and more than 575,000 village-level cultural service centers. Most of our public libraries, museums and art galleries are open to the public free of charge or at a low cost. More high-standard cultural facilities are under construction.
Third, the cultural and tourism industries are now more integrated. Money and time are important for traveling. Now, more and more people have sufficient time and money to go on a trip at any time, explore their dreams away from the hustle and bustle of daily life, and enjoy China's beautiful landscape. In 2019, China welcomed over six billion domestic tourists, and grossed 5.7 trillion yuan from this sector.
Cultural changes are also reflected in that China's continued growth and cultural development have enhanced the inner strength of the Chinese people, and profoundly changed their spiritual outlook from being oppressed 100 years ago to being treated equally in the world today. The Chinese people has more confidence in the path, theory, system and culture of Chinese socialism. The spirit of patriotism, reform, innovation and hard work in the new era are taking root. Good traditions in Chinese culture, including filial piety, keeping a diligent and friendly attitude, helping those in difficulties or danger, upholding morality while advocating good deeds, and acting bravely for a just cause, have been promoted, filling society with uplifting energy.
Today, the Chinese people are more open-minded and have gained deeper understanding of innovation, rules, and markets. The nation is turning towards a thrifty, green, low-carbon, and healthy lifestyle. Facing difficulties and challenges in development, the Chinese people have overcome difficulties with a strong will and hard work. They have truly created a miracle in the world.
China has built a moderately prosperous society in all respects and is making solid progress towards the goal of common prosperity. The people have more expectations and better requirements for cultural life. Common prosperity is both material and cultural. We will stick to a people-centered development philosophy, focus on the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development in the cultural field, and strive to make efforts on three aspects: inclusiveness, diversity and quality, so as to enhance the people's sense of cultural acquisition and happiness.
Inclusiveness means to pay attention to balance and equality, continue to improve the public cultural service system, strengthen the construction of cultural infrastructure, strive to eliminate the gap between urban and rural areas and regions, better protect people's basic cultural rights, and let more people participate in cultural creation and enjoy cultural nourishment. Diversity refers to the enhancement of cultural supply capacity and the enrichment of cultural products in accordance with people's cultural needs in various aspects, such as seeking knowledge, beauty and happiness, and the individualized, differentiated, diversified and multi-level cultural needs of different individuals and groups. Quality means that we must strive to create masterpieces that are of high quality, with good taste, and close to life. The works must appeal to people and lead the times. They must convey truth, goodness and beauty, and spread positive energy. People will thus enjoy a richer and higher quality cultural life. Thank you.
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