Power of culture drives city's development

Shanghai’s cultural industry showed great vitality in a difficult 2020 with fast growth in sectors such as games and online literature, according to a recent report by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

The output of the city’s cultural industry expanded to 2.04 trillion yuan (US$317 billion) in 2020, among which sales of games surged 50 percent, online literature 37.5 percent, Internet-related services 18 percent and information technology 12.5 percent, according to the annual report.

“The power of culture  helped our city better navigate amid the pandemic, and we have seen a resilient growth of the sector,” said Xu Jinjiang, head of Institute of Literature at SASS.

According to the report, Shanghai is leading the country in terms of cultural facilities, with five museums for each million people, more than the average of 2.3 across the country. It also has many places for art performances, with four theatres for each million people, while the number of libraries, galleries and cinemas is also ranking among the top across the country.

“Shanghai is close to the target of allowing people to get into a public cultural venue within 15 minutes,” said Huang Changyong, headmaster of Shanghai Theatre Academy. "People have a good evaluation of such cultural facilities."

The annual report also includes analysis for the city's literature, public cultural services, cultural communication, cultural heritage and film industry.

Dong Jun / SHINE