Culture and tourism industries receive upgrades

The capital has made remarkable achievements in culture and tourism during the process of building its two zones－a pilot free trade zone and a national comprehensive demonstration zone for the opening-up of the service sector, said a senior official from the city government.

The culture and tourism sectors are committed to institutional innovation, streamlined administration and delegating more powers to improve the city's business environment, Qi Huichao, a senior official from the Beijing Publicity Department, said at a news conference held recently to celebrate the first anniversary of the start of construction on the two zones.

Specifically, the city has further enhanced the efficiency of reviewing television, films and video games in the past year, Qi said.

At some major bases for game companies, authorities have set up a special office to offer reviewing services. In addition, a talent pool for game reviewing was created to support the healthy development of the video game industry.

The capital is also striving to advance the integrated development of culture and tourism, with a host of key projects launched in the past year.

Universal Beijing Resort in Beijing's Tongzhou district, which started operation on Sept 20, is the city's largest foreign-funded project in the service industry. With such a popular attraction, the district plans to strengthen support for local culture and tourism industries by holding more cultural activities, launching more projects and providing more financial aid, Qi said.

Tongzhou is speeding up the construction of the Zhangjiawan Design Town, which will be the permanent venue for the Beijing Fashion Week. The China Design Museum will also be built in the town in the coming years.

An array of cultural industrial parks have been established in the city based on local advantages.

The Tianzhu Free Trade Zone in Beijing's northeastern Shunyi district is building itself into a national highland for cultural trade.

So far, the zone has established a national foreign cultural trade base and national culture export base. It has optimized services for cultural trade based on the two platforms, improving the zone's regulations governing high-end artworks in the past year, Qi said.

In 2020, the zone's cultural and educational enterprises registered revenue of 1.02 billion yuan ($157.82 million), up 23.6 year-on-year.

About one-third of the country's imported artworks were brought in through the zone in recent years, according to local officials.

China (Huairou) Film and Television Demonstration Base in Huairou district is home to numerous Chinese film production giants such as H. Brothers and Bona Film Group.

During the process of building the two zones, local authorities moved forward with reforms of regulations and services for filmmaking projects co-funded by Chinese and foreign businesses, Qi said.

China's first international filmmaking service center was launched in the base in May, which focuses on 31 approval items and offers one-stop services for these projects.

zhanglinwan@chinadaily.com.cn