Folk artist shows her expertise at traditional embroidery at a cultural fair in Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province. Zhao Tianhua / for China Daily

Heilongjiang's Party committee recently decided to promote cultural quality and business exchanges, while enriching local people's lives and nourishing creative endeavors among its people.

The decision came at the 18th session of 10th Heilongjiang provincial Party committee meeting in late October, with a focus on the quality and competitiveness of the local culture industry, enriching public life, developing cultural projects and innovation, producing cultural works, and making better use of human resources.

Ji Bingxuan, head of the Heilongjiang Party committee, summed it up by saying, "Heilongjiang will work hard to boost culture and give cultural prosperity priority."

Under the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010), the province spent more than 3.3 billion yuan ($518.8 million) on the culture business, more than twice the amount spent under the 10th Five-Year Plan, and an annual growth of 19.3 percent.

The money went for renovations in the Daowai district of Harbin and on Huayuan Street in Nangang district of the provincial capital, as part of cultural heritage protection and relics preservation projects.

To support similar projects, Heilongjiang has set up what it calls "cultural stations" - totaled more than 700 - in all its towns, as well as 4,000 community libraries that are said to benefit more than 7.7 million people.

The province has said it will also focus on enriching the lives of its people, especially in rural areas and has put 50 million yuan into digital movie equipment and five rural movie companies.

Because of this, at least 90 percent of the province has access to films, a development that has helped narrow the urban-rural culture gap and markedly improved the weak rural culture situation.

Bai Yaguang, director of the provincial culture bureau, expanded on this, saying, "We'll continue to improve the public cultural infrastructure, and provide a lot greater form and content to the culture we offer our people."

The province already has some popular cultural brands. One of the most prominent brands is the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, which the provincial government uses to promote local tourism.

Under the provincial 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), it expects to increase the number of these well-known brands.

That plan calls for the development of a cultural industry system with its own distinct features, a stronger ability to innovate, and a greater reach for its brands.

It plans to develop large cultural enterprises and conglomerates over the next five years that are competitive and influential.

By the end of 2015, it expects to have completed the work on 10 cultural demonstration zones and to have 10 cultural conglomerates, with a yearly output worth more than 5 billion yuan each.

The province also wants more cultural activities for the masses across a wide range, such as plaza culture, community culture, campus culture, enterprise culture, and even military camp culture.

This is a major way to promote national competitiveness and could be the basis of national economic and social development, local officials have said.

This is all part of a grander, national resolution to increase China's cultural influence internationally by giving the sector more resources domestically, announced at a plenary session of the 17th Communist Party Central Committee in October.

(China Daily 11/28/2011 page15)