The province has been actively disseminating Lingnan culture to the world, according to Cui Chaoyang, Deputy Director General of the Publicity Department of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee, at a press conference on June 17.
A series of activities, including Understanding China Conference (Guangzhou), Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, the annual program titled Chinese New Year Greetings from Guangdong, GDToday's interactive and experiential series events Experience Guangdong, Bridges—an event aiming to bridge the gap between China and the West, and Cross-Straits Youth Creative Short Film Contests, have been held in recent years.
The province's exports of cultural products and services account for about two-fifths of China's total volume, covering more than 160 countries and regions.
Sufficient supply of public cultural products
Guangdong so far has built 150 public libraries, 367 museums, 144 cultural centers, 141 art galleries, 1,617 rural cultural stations, and 26,000 village-level comprehensive cultural service centers. All public libraries, cultural centers and stations can be accessed free of charge. In the past five years, about 1.2 billion RMB has been allocated for free opening of these public cultural organizations.
The province has 886 national key and provincial cultural relics protection units, 165 national intangible cultural heritage representative projects, and 701 provincial projects. The output value of the arts and crafts industry exceeds 200 billion RMB, accounting for one quarter of the national output value.
Guangdong has produced quite a few masterpieces of Cantonese Opera, Lingnan arts, Cantonese music as well as television and film works. One of the examples is the animated feature "I Am What I Am" about three teenagers who try to reshape their destiny by learning traditional lion dance.
Additionally, in order to accelerate the revitalization of rural culture, Guangdong has founded 3 national key rural tourism towns and 39 key villages. It has also designed 200 rural tourism boutique routes and identified 259 special villages and 50 towns with distinctive features in the province.
High-quality development of cultural industry
The added value of culture and related industries in Guangdong accounts for 5.59% of the province's GDP, taking up 13.8% of the national total, ranking first in the country for 18 consecutive years.
"Guangdong is striving to forge a batch of Lingnan cultural landmarks with endemic features and international standards," Li Bin, Director General of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, announced at a press conference on June 17.
According to Li, a number of new projects have been completed and opened for the public. At present, the main body of the Greater Bay Area Culture and Art Center in Guangzhou's White Swan Pond Area has been roofed, the new site of the Guangdong Art Institute has been opened in Guangzhou's Baiyun District, and the construction of Guangdong Underwater Cultural Heritage Protection Center has started in Yangjiang city. In addition, some major projects, such as the reconstruction of the Sun Yet-Sen Library of Guangdong Province and the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Culture Center, have been processed at a faster pace.
Li stated that in the future, Guangdong will launch more policies and establish a special fund to support high-quality literary and artistic works, so as to stimulate the original production of Guangdong's cultural works.
Read more: Infographics | Highlights of Guangdong's culture, art & heritage
Author: Ariel
Editor: Wing, Nan, Monica, Jerry
