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Cultural Services
Since the founding of New China 50 years ago, the number of its cultural
establishments has increased substantially. By the end of 1988, China had 2,915
cultural centers, increasing 2,005 over 1949; 2,731 public libraries at or above the
county level, a rise of nearly 50 time; 1,331 museums, rising 62 times; and 69,000
film projection units and 2,635 art troupes.
China's contingent of cultural and artistic professionals has grown markedly.
The number of higher art institutions increased from 18 in 1949 to 30, and that of
secondary art schools, from one in 1949 to 166. A socialist art educational system
with complete disciplines, in various types and multiple forms has taken shape.
After new China was founded, China's journalist undertaking embarked on a new
path and saw unprecedented development. Especially after the 3rd Plenary Session of
the 11th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC), its journalist
undertaking has formed a large and scientific press and publication network. In
1998, China had more than 2,100 types of newspapers, two news agencies, more than 1,200
radio stations and more than 300 wireless and cable TV stations. The press community
had 550,000 employees. Meanwhile, great changes have taken place in the structure
and layout of news media organizations, with a single Party newspaper system evolving into
a newspaper system in multiple layers and with multiple varieties and functions.
Since 1949, especially since China initiated reforms and opening up, its
broadcasting undertaking has reported rapid development and great progress in its
modernization drive. At the end of 1994, the data broadcasting and information service
network via satellite transmission was opened nationwide, with data and information of any
system and corporation transmitted and released at all times. China has set up more than
10,000 frequency modulation TV transmitting stations with large-, medium- and small-sized
transmitters, with the transmission coverage reaching 100 percent in large and
medium-sized cities.
At the end of 1998, the broadcasting and TV coverage of the population
reached 88.2 and 89 percent, respectively. This means that about 150 million people had no
access to the broadcasting and TV service. In April of 1999, the State Development
Planning Commission and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television jointly
issued a circular, stating that in 2000 all villages accessible to electricity should have
access to broadcasting and TV service by and large. To attain the goal, the state would
set up a special 250 million yuan fund.
In May of 1998, China had 2,160 types of newspapers with a total annual
circulation of 26 billion copies, according to information released at the 15th annual
meeting of the World Communications Group.
In 1998, China published more than 130,000 kinds of books with a total
impression of 7.2 billion copies, about 10 times over 1952. There were about 8,000
kinds of magazines with a combined impression of 2.5 billion copies.
In China, literary and artistic creation is flourishing. The establishment of
the "Mao Dun Literature Prize", "Lu Xun Literature Prize", "Bing
Xin Literature Prize", "Soong Ching Ling Children Literature Prize",
"Cao Yu Drama Literature Prize" and "Xia Yan Film Literature Prize"
has promoted the creation of various literary works such as novels, poetry, prose,
commentaries and dramas.
China is a large cultural country with a long history. Its 56 ethnic groups
have created brilliant cultures with unique features. As a dynamic cultural
heritage, folk literature has been handed down from generations in such form as stories,
ballads and proverbs. In the 1950s and 80s, China launched two major collection
campaigns for folk literature, collecting 1.83 million folk stories, 3.02 million folk
songs and 2.48 million entries of folk proverbs with a total of four billion characters.
In July of 1994, the Chinese government and the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) signed an agreement to enact programs to
preserve Chinese folk cultural heritage. In the subsequent years, with the aid of
the Japanese government, the UNESCO representative offices in China, Mongolia and Korea
and the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association jointly organized foreign and domestic
specialists on folk literature to form a Chinese folk literature group. They investigated
and interviewed in Jilin, Hubei, Sichuan, Yunnan and Hebei provinces. They discovered a
large number of old and new folk story narrators who were either propagators of
traditional folk stories or creators of new folk stories in the countryside.
Generally each could tell more than 100 stories and some of them could recite more
than 1,000. To commend their outstanding contributions to the protection of folk
culture, the UNESCO and the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Association decided in 1998 to
confer 10 folk story narrators with the title of "Chinese Folk Story Expert".
The narrators included Liu Depei, Wei Xiande, Jin Zhengxin, Cao Yanyu (female),
Zhang Gongsheng, Wang Haihong, Lin Hong, Pan Xiaopu (female), Luo Chengshuan and Dong
Fengqin (female). Of them, Dong Fenqin, a girl from Bai ethnic group in Yunnan
Province, was granted the title of "folk song singer".
On December 12, 1985, China joined the "Convention on the Protection of World
Cultural and Natural Heritage". In 1986, China began to file applications to
the UNESCO for enlisting Chinese sites into the world heritage list. From 1987 to
1999, 23 Chinese sites were granted approval to be added to "world heritage
list", including 16 cultural heritage sites, three natural heritage sites, and four
cultural and natural heritage sites.
On May 25, 1998, the UNESCO office in China, Ministry of Construction and State
Administration of Cultural Heritage jointly issued world heritage plates to the
administrations of 19 world natural and cultural sites recognized by the UNESCO. The
plates will be erected permanently at the sites.
(China's World Heritage Sites)
World Cultural Heritage Sites (16)
Name of the sites
Approval
Time
The Great Wall
1987
The Imperial Palace in Beijing
1987
The mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor of Qin Dynasty
(A.D. 221-206 B.C.), in Shaanxi
1987
The Mogao Grottoes of Dunhuang in Gansu Province
1987
The Peking Man Site near Zhoukoudian in Beijing suburbs
1987
Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet
1994
The Chengde Imperial Summer Resort and adjacent temples in Hebei 1994
The Confucian Manor, Confucian Temple, and Confucian Woods in
Qufu in Shandong
1994
Ancient buildings of Wudang Mountain in Hubei
1994
Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi
1996
The town of Lijiang in Yunnan
1997
The ancient town of Pingyao in Shanxi
1997
The gardens of Suzou City in Jiangsu
1997
The Summer Palace in Beijing
Dec.
1998
The Temple of Heaven in Beijing
Dec.
1998
Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing
Dec.
1999
World Natural Heritage Sites (3)
Wulingyuan Scenic Resort of Zhangjiajie in Hunan
1992
Jiuzhaigou Scenic Resort in Sichuan
1992
Huanglong Scenic Resort in Sichuan
1992
World Cultural and Natural Heritage Sites (4 )
Taishan Montain in Shandong
1987
Huangshan Mountain in Anhui
1990
Emei Mountain and the Leshan Mountain Scenic Resorts in Sichuan
1996
Wuyi Mountain in Fujian
Dec.
1999 |