Culture
New China has witnessed in the past 50 years a tortuous development
of its literature and art. The first Congress of Literary and Art workers
held in 1949 set into motion what was known as "socialist art cause". In
1956, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party put forward
the principle of "let one hundred flowers bloom and one hundred schools
of though contend", a policy that promoted the development of arts.
Things were in good shape up to 1966, when the "cultural revolution"
broke out, with the exception of the excessive Anti-Rightist Movement of
the late 1950's, which implicated a big number of writers and artists.
During the 10-year "cultural revolution", many excellent works were
labeled as "poisonous weeds", and writers and artists were persecuted,
leaving China's garden of literature and art barren.
Since 1978, China has seen a revival of artistic creation. Great
progress has been made in the following areas:
1. The country's art performance troupes have been revamped as part
of the effort to reshape China's cultural establishment.
This effort has achieved major breakthroughs over the last 20 years
of reform and opening up. Since 1992, the Ministry of Culture, the
country's chief regulator of cultural affairs, has responded to the
Party's call to deepen structural reforms of cultural institutions by
focusing first on performance groups directly under the central
government. Measures taken include redefining the relationship between
the State and the troupes by introducing performance-related subsidies,
and redefining the relationship between the performance groups and
performers by linking employment with performance. Thanks to the
effective reforms, the number of performance groups directly under the
central government has been reduced from 13 to 10, but annual
performances by those troupes increased from nearly 400 of the pre-reform
period to 1,928 in 1997. Financially, these troupes put an end to
loss-making and posted a profit of 7.43 million yuan in 1997. This
experience served as a model to be applied nationwide for reforming art
troupes of various sizes.
Art education and culture-related science and technology have also
undergone readjustments, and pilot programs have been undertaken in
promoting rural cultural reforms and reorganizing popular cultural
institutions.
2. Artistic creation has flourished.
To promote art development, the government has since 1987 held five
Chinese art festivals featuring time-honored stage performances. These
festivals have been hugely successful thanks to the participation of
professional artists and the public at large. In 1991 the Ministry of
Culture launched the Wenhua Award -- the highest award for professional
artists given by the government. Recipients of that award include Grandpa
Shangang, Remote Town, Barren land and The Geologist.
In stage productions, the government protects and supports classical
art such as orchestral music, opera and music plays, and traditional
Chinese arts such as Peking Opera. The most popular shows include the New
Year's Peking Opera Night and the Chinese New Year Party organized by the
Ministry of Culture. In 1997 alone, 417,000 shows were staged attracting
a audience of 464 million.
3. A cultural market is fast emerging.
The reform program has given rise to a booming cultural market. That
market encompasses performances, books, newspapers and magazines, fine
arts, films, audio and video products, entertainment, historical relics,
Sino-foreign cultural exchanges and art training. Meanwhile, problems
have arisen along with the booming market. In 1993, a national working
conference was held on regulating the burgeoning cultural market. At that
meeting, the principle of "attaching equal importance to cultural
prosperity and market regulation" was set forth. A series of related
policies and regulations have been formulated and promulgated since. The
promulgation of the Regulations on Commercial Performance Administration
in 1997, in particular, represented a major milestone in cultural market
legislation. Over the past years, a planned and step-by-step effort to
tackle problems in the cultural market has been made and the result has
been good. The macro-control measures taken to regulate the performance
market, in particular, have created a positive market environment for the
growth of traditional Chinese arts and classical Western arts. The
rearrangement of the audio and video market has resulted in an obvious
increase in the market share of authentic products. Since January 1997, a
program-supply system has been introduced to ensure that video projection
rooms all over the country play only authentic films, thereby ensuring
the healthy development of the market.
Statistics show that by 1997 there were 257,378 business entities
nationwide affiliated with cultural institutions, employing 1,160,385.
That market represents not only a place for entertainment but also a
source of employment and tax revenue. The cultural industry, as part of
the service industry, is playing an increasingly important role.
4. Impressive progress has been made in the development of ethnic
minority cultures.
To support the cultural development of ethnic minorities, the
Ministry of Culture has mapped out a series of preferential policies for
building cultural facilities in minority-inhabited areas, training ethnic
artists, conducting cultural exchanges with foreign countries, and
preserving cultural relics. With the assistance of the government, all
the ethnic groups in China have formed their own art troupes. By 1997
those troupes numbered 526, including 59 singing and dancing troupes. In
addition, there were 596 libraries, 658 cultural centers and 134 museums.
The Ministry of Culture allocates more than 10 million yuan to
minority-inhabited areas for building cultural facilities. To encourage
artistic excellence, the government set up a Peacock Prize for ethnic
artists, so far 166 have won the prize.
Also, 24 institutions of higher learning and secondary schools
nationwide are designated to train minority artists. To support the
cultural development of Tibet, for example, the Ministry of Culture
mobilized 14 provinces and municipalities to aid Tibet's cultural
development. The first 15 projects alone involved nearly 50 billion yuan
of aid.
5. Art education has been strengthened.
Currently, the country now has 30 institutions of higher learning
devoted to art education, with a combined enrollment of 6,673 students
and a staff of 21,284. In addition, 137 secondary schools employ 13,959
staff members with an enrollment of 68,594. These schools have produced
such great Chinese artists as singers Guan Mucun and Dong Wenhua, as well
as comedians Shi Fukuan and Jiang Kun.
6. The cultural infrastructure has been consolidated.
The reform and opening up program has given rise to the emergence of
a host of hallmark cultural facilities in various localities. These
include the National Library of China (the largest in Asia; dedicated in
October 1987); the museums of Shaanxi, Shanghai, Henan and Tibet; the
libraries of Shanghai, Jiangxi, Fujian and Inner Mongolia; the Changan
Grand Theater of Beijing and Tianhe Book Trading Center of Guangzhou. In
1997 alone, 1,043 cultural infrastructure projects were under
construction, involving a construction area of 4.5 million square meters.
By the end of that year, 361 projects had been completed, with a
construction area of 934,000 square meters and a total investment of 2.84
billion yuan. The Ministry of Culture alone undertook more than 30
projects, most involving over 10 million yuan each. Eight projects
involved more than 100 million yuan each. The construction of a National
Opera House is under way, and a number of provinces and cities have built
their own opera houses and concert halls.
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