The State-owned Cultural Assets Administration Center (SOCAAC) and the School of Cultural Industry Management of Communication University of China recently released a joint "White Paper on Beijing Cultural Industries Development (2021)" (Chinese and English version) (the "White Paper").

The White Paper comprehensively sorts out the important data, policy measures, major events, and characteristic trends of the development of Beijing's cultural industries in 2020, and objectively reflects their basic annual situation. At the same time, with a view to the new development situation and new requirements of the capital, it puts forward their anticipated development.

The "White Paper" shows that in 2020, the development of Beijing's cultural industries rose after suppression, and the overall growth was maintained throughout the year, demonstrating strong resilience and potential. According to statistical annual report data, the city's cultural industries' income above designated size in 2020 totaled 154.208 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.9 percent; the number of cultural industry legal entities above designated size in the city was 5,557, a year-on-year increase of 5.8 percent; and the income of the city's cultural industry assets above designated size totaled 2494.74 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.5 percent.

The industrial structure continued to be optimized, and the core cultural sector accounted for more than 90 percent of the revenue, highlighting the dominant position of advantageous industries. In 2020, the city's total income from cultural core areas above designated size was 139.559 billion yuan, an increase of 16.6 percent year-on-year, and 90.5 percent of the total income of cultural industries above designated size. Among them, news information services, creative design services, content creation and production, and cultural communication channels accounted for 89.7 percent of the city's total income of cultural industries above designated size, a sign of the dominance enjoyed by advantageous industries. Driven by the engine of digital content production, the total revenue of content creation and production above designated size for the year reached 306.99 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 47.6 percent, the fastest growth rate among all cultural industries.

New business formats and new models release fresh vitality and become the core force that drives the development of the cultural industry. Driven by technological innovation and reforms, new business forms and models that respond to diversified and personalized consumer demands are booming, and have maintained a strong growth trend during the epidemic. New models such as "cloud viewing exhibition", "cloud performing arts", "cloud audio-visual" and "cloud tourism" are emerging, and cultural live broadcasts and immersive experience projects are doing splendidly. In 2020, among the cultural enterprises above designated size, the 16 industry sub-categories with obvious characteristics of the new cultural business achieved operating income of 916.01 billion yuan, accounting for 61.3 percent of the operating income of cultural enterprises above designated size in the city. "Culture + Internet" enterprises above designated size in the city achieved operating income of 895.21 billion yuan, accounting for 59.9 percent of the operating income of cultural enterprises above designated size in the city.

The overall strength of cultural enterprises has continued to increase, and cultural and technological enterprises have developed strongly. At the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, Beijing-listed cultural companies accounted for 30 percent of those of the country, the New Third Board-listed cultural companies accounted for one-third, and cultural unicorn companies accounted for about half. The number of national cultural export key enterprises and the number of national cultural and technological integration demonstration bases rank first in the country. In 2020, 14 new listed cultural enterprises were added, with an initial financing scale of 37.266 billion yuan, an increase of 55.6 percent and 667.7 percent year-on-year respectively, setting a new peak in the number of newly listed cultural enterprises in Beijing in the past 20 years. A total of 378 financing incidents occurred throughout the year, accounting for 21.2 percent of the country's total, and capital inflows amounted to 61.682 billion yuan, accounting for 22.7 percent of the country's total. Private equity financing of the cultural industry involves 9.111 billion yuan, a scale of financing ranking first in the country. The reform of state-owned cultural enterprises continued to deepen, and the "one enterprise, one policy" promoted the reform and development of enterprises such as Beijing Publishing Group and Beijing Cultural Investment Group. In 2020, the operating income of "cultural + technology" enterprises above designated size in the city achieved 772.54 billion yuan, accounting for 51.7 percent of the operating income of cultural enterprises above designated size in the city. The number of digital entertainment unicorn companies accounted for nearly 60 percent of the country’s total.

The spatial pattern of the cultural industry has become increasingly clear, and themed function space has become an industry growth pole. Based on the construction of a national cultural center, Beijing uses its central axis to apply cultural heritage to promotion of cultural rejuvenation, coordinating the promotion of the protection, inheritance and utilization of the Great Wall, the Grand Canal and the Yongding River in Xishan, and of the integration of the overall protection of the old city and the sustainable development of the city as a whole. In 2020, 10 municipal-level cultural industry demonstration parks, 10 municipal-level cultural industry demonstration parks (nominated), and 78 municipal-level cultural industry parks were recognized, and the 798 Art District became the first national-level cultural industry demonstration park establishment unit in Beijing. The work of expanding the cultural space role of old factories has been intensified, and 60 percent of the city-level cultural industry parks have been transformed from old factories. The construction of the National Cultural Industry Innovation Experimental Zone and the National Cultural and Financial Cooperation Demonstration Zone was accelerated. Major projects such as Beijing Universal Studios and Taihu Performing Arts Town progressed steadily, and cultural and tourism exchanges and cooperation between Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei were further strengthened.

Cultural supply has become more diversified, and cultural consumption venues have accelerated their migration online. Focusing on the themes of the founding of the country and the Party, reform and opening up, poverty alleviation, and the fight against the epidemic, a number of excellent works have been created such as the movie "Winning the Championship", the TV series "Shichahai", the Peking Opera "Li Dazhao", and the Beijing Song "War on the Epidemic". The supply of online cultural products such as audio-visual, games, and digital reading has increased significantly. Brand events such as "e-sports Beijing", the Beijing Huimin Cultural Consumption Season, the Beijing International Film Festival, the Beijing International Music Festival and other brand activities have combined online and offline methods to light up the spiritual and cultural life of the public. The number of physical bookstores has bucked the trend and grown substantially, helping to achieve the task of building a well-off society in an all-round way. Online cultural consumption has become the new normal, cultural consumption has become more digitized, hierarchical, and younger, and the blind box economy and national trend consumption have become new highlights. In 2020, the actual sales revenue of Beijing's mobile game market was 89.429 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25 percent.

Significant changes have taken place in the pattern of international cultural trade, and cultural "going out" has enhanced the country's cultural soft power. Although the export of cultural products has been blocked, and the scale of exports has narrowed, in 2020 the total import and export of cultural products in Beijing was $3.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%; however, cultural product exports at $768 million showed a year-on-year decrease of 15.6 percent. On the other hand, affected by factors such as the "home economy", demand for cultural and entertainment services has grown, and exports have grown at a faster rate. In 2020, the import and export of personal, cultural and entertainment services in Beijing was $2.37 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 5.8 percent, of which exports were $680 million, a year-on-year increase of 24.7 percent. Companies such as ByteDance and Perfect World, offering products such as online videos, games, and live broadcasting, are becoming more competitive in "going global".

The planning and policy system has been further improved, and the business environment has continued to be optimized. Top-level planning has been strengthened and policy guides such as "Opinions on Prosperity and Prosperity of Capital Culture in the New Era", "Beijing City's Medium and Long-term Plan for Promoting the Construction of National Cultural Centers (2019-2035)", "Beijing City's Medium and Long-term Plan for the Development of the Leading District for Cultural Industry Development (2019) Year-2035)" and "Beijing Three-year Action Plan for the High-quality Development of Cultural Industry (2020-2022)" were issued. In response to the pain points and difficulties in the development of enterprises, management support for sub-industries was increased, and policy responsiveness, landing execution and enterprise service capabilities were further enhanced.

The cultural financial service system has been improved. Almost 900 cultural enterprises valued at 415 million yuan have been supported through the "investment and loan award" policy, and the rent of 2,377 cultural enterprises has been reduced or exempted by 133 million yuan through the "rental link" policy. Financial institutions such as the Bank of Beijing and Beijing Rural Commercial Bank actively innovated financial products to provide strong support for the financing of cultural enterprises during the epidemic. The reform of "decentralization, management and service" continued to deepen, and government services became more convenient and efficient. The digitalization of intellectual property protection has been accelerated, and intellectual property supervision and enforcement mechanisms have been further improved.

Facing the new situation, new changes and new requirements, the "White Paper" puts forward the development ideas of Beijing's cultural industry for a period of time into the future. The development of Beijing's cultural industry should accurately grasp the changes in the mission of the times, the impact of the epidemic, the technological revolution, market supply and demand, and the global pattern. Centering on the goal of building a cultural power, the industry must develop in accordance with the national cultural center construction of "one core, one city, three belts", and must adhere to the overall framework requirements of the "two districts", the global vision, and the best standards and advantages of the capital, striving to build a high-quality development planning system, a cultural heritage protection, an inheritance and utilization system, a "high-precision" modern cultural industry system, and a spatial system. It should furthermore develop a more dynamic cultural market, support for high-quality industrial development, and an international cultural exchange and trade platform to accelerate strong market competitiveness, sufficient innovation driving force, and a broad radiation belt.

(Copywriter: Wang Liyan)