The Forum of Mount Taishan opened on Nov 6. Organized to discuss the historical significance and future commercialization of Mount Taishan, the Forum attracted nearly 300 high-profile guests from government, industrial and academic circles.

Li Wuwei: self-financing the way out, and creativity the key to it

Li Wuwei, vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made clear that local authorities must strive for self-sufficiency and break away from their old habits of relying on central funding for cultural development. In particular, he mentioned public funding as promising way forward.

Citing the case of the ancient Anshun Bridge in Chengdu as an example, he talked about how the local government creatively secured capital from public investors for the repair work needed by granting exclusive catering development rights to the area above the bridge, which brought Chengdu a beautiful, top-tier restaurant atop the bridge.

Anshun Bridge

Mr Li continued to point out that for creativity to pay off, ideas must be market-oriented and appeal to customers emotionally.

The Anshun Bridge restaurant’s success is precisely founded on its high standards, which cater to modern day yearnings for luxury, and its archaic touch, reminiscent of China’s historical splendor, which appeals emotionally to customers.

Gao Shusheng: upgrading a must for China’s cultural industry

Gao Shusheng, vice director of the Cultural Reform and Development Office of the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the CPC, highlighted the pressing need for China’s cultural industry to be restructured and upgraded.

He said that although China’s rapid economic development in recent decades fostered a favorable environment for the industry to take off, a number of structural obstacles are stopping it from realizing its full potential. He pointed to duplicate production, limited corporate competency and geographical distribution imbalance in particular.

He also noted that the industry’s annual output currently stands at only 1 trillion yuan, lagging substantially behind the latest 4 trillion target.

Mr Gao told us breakthroughs are impossible without innovation, and corporations and institutions must be audacious at integrating frontier technologies into their existing production. He pointed to the electronic Qing Ming Shang He Tu (an ancient Chinese painting portraying riverside scenes) displayed at the Shanghai Expo in Beijing’s Palace Museum a spear to the followed.

To further inspire someone, Mr Gao presented some interesting ideas as references to wither the cultural industry’s future, including digitalizing school textbooks to replace bags with iPads and supplanting text introduction in museums with video productions to bring history to life.