Lifestyle

As part of the 2015 Year of China in South Africa celebrations, a seminar on China-South Africa cultural industry cooperation will be held in Pretoria and Johannesburg from November 8-13. Over 100 policymakers, scholars and enterprise representatives from the two countries will exchange ideas about the development of the cultural industry in China and South Africa and how the two can work together for mutual development. ChinAfrica speaks with three Chinese scholars to offer readers a peek into the ideas that are going to shape the cultural industries in both countries.

Li Jiashan, Executive Dean, National Institute of Cultural Development

By understanding others' cultures people from different countries can have heart-to-heart communication. As Nelson Mandela once said, "Artists reach areas far beyond the reach of politicians. Art, especially entertainment and music, is understood by everybody, and it lifts the spirits and the morale of those who hear it." The emerging cultural industry has been playing an increasingly important role in international affairs. How many cultural resources a country owns is less important than the way they utilize them. Creating economic benefits while preserving traditional culture is what really matters.

The cultural industry is a strategic choice of China. We've seen a new development mode integrating cultural inheritance and industrial innovation. This reform has generated cultural vitality: cultural enterprises participate in international competition; people with interdisciplinary talents are trained for cultural industry management. Theoretical studies on the cultural industry and trade have also made achievements. The whole society has reached a consensus about the balance needed between reform and development, innovation and preservation.

The South African Government, especially its Department of Arts and Culture, also provides full support to local cultural industry development through the White Paper on Arts, Culture and Heritage and the Mzansi Golden Economy Strategy (which considers the arts, culture and heritage as the "new gold" and has the government helping local organizations in hosting arts and cultural events in communities) aiming to unleash the economic potential of the arts through large-scale investment.

Both China and South Africa are multicultural nations, and complementary when it comes to the economy and trade. South Africa is one of Africa's biggest economies and its crucial time-zone location in the international settlement network will provide China with great financial support. It is also a major investment destination for China and plays a crucial role in China's outward investment. Given their cultural diversity and existing opportunities in trade and financial development, the cooperation between the two countries' cultural industry is a matter of necessity.

In both countries, the cultural enterprises, especially small and medium-sized ones, show development dynamics. South Africa's industry of music, visual art, handicrafts, publishing, information, film, design and innovation have all achieved significant economic benefits. Chinese cultural enterprises are also growing quickly. Cooperation between the two countries' cultural industry will provide opportunities to give full play to their advantages, and a sustainable driving force to promote diversity and further explore the international market jointly.

Zheng Chengjun, Director, Institute of Contemporary China Studies, Beijing Language and Culture University

The cultural industry cooperation between China and South Africa is endowed with a promising future. Film production cooperation, as one of the most important and prosperous branches, is especially worth our expectation.

Starting out from screening foreign movies, the Chinese film industry has gone through a growth process. After the success of early Chinese productions raised society's attention about the industry's potential and bright future, a government-controlled management system, modeled on the system of the then Soviet Union, was adopted after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. But the industry was subjected to market competition after the reform and opening up since the late 1970s. Fortunately, the Chinese film industry seized the opportunity and met the challenge. Benefiting from government support and a favorable market environment, it has grown quickly since then.

In 2014, the worldwide ticket sales reached $37.5 billion. China contributed 75 percent of its growth and got a 13-percent share in the global movie market, second only to the United States (27 percent). Figures in February 2015 showed that China's monthly box-office revenue - $4.05 billion - surpassed the United States' for the first time in history. The new record reflects, to some extent, the prosperity of the Chinese film industry and its rising role in the international film industry.

South African movies in China are still in their early days. Most Chinese audiences have little knowledge about South African movies beyond South Africa-born Hollywood star Charlize Theron, and Neill Blomkamp, director of District 9 (a 2009 science fiction film). Neither do South African audiences know about Chinese movies, I suppose. However, a blank piece of paper is perfect for good art - an opportunity is offered to China and South Africa to build up cooperation in the film industry from the ground up by strengthening cultural communication and bridging the cultural gap. A jointly held film festival could be a starting point, and co-productions and distributing each other's movies would also help the two countries promote a relationship based on peaceful development and mutual benefits.

Sun Junxin, Lecturer, School of Economics, Trade and Event Management, Beijing International Studies University

The cultural exchange between China and Africa in recent years has relied on the support of the financial system. StarTimes, a Chinese private hi-tech company headquartered in Beijing, for example, received a loan from China Development Bank for its wireless and digital terrestrial TV network project in Africa. They also got financial support from a leasing company when purchasing TV rights, also in Africa, for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. A Beautiful Daughter-in-law Era, a Chinese TV drama dubbed into Swahili, was able to reach African audiences, thanks to a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.

A multi-level financing system for China's cultural industry has been established. In addition to the traditional mortgage, financial institutions now provide cultural enterprises in the growing and maturing stages with pledge financing based on intellectual property, accounts receivable, future usufruct, and equity. Meanwhile, the government is making efforts to connect and build platforms, and provide support through favorable fiscal and tax policies to cultural enterprises, especially capital to small startups pursuing innovation. As a result, many cultural enterprises have achieved fast growth, especially private companies which managed to improve their financial management, establish a modern corporate system and a clear benefit mode.

As we enter the age of the Internet, we can look forward to a close and practical connection between Internet finance and the cultural industry. Today, cultural and creative projects account for 50 to 70 percent of the projects on major crowdfunding websites. And crowdfunding, after achieving success in Western countries, has been developed in China and Africa. On zhongchou.com and Thundafund, two major crowdfunding websites from China and South Africa respectively, many culture-themed projects - films, music and books - have successfully raised funds and gained attention.

Many Chinese have a strong interest in African art for its uniqueness, and want to learn more about it through further commutation, which will be facilitated by financing measures. While traditional finance serves institutions and enterprises, Internet finance can provide opportunities to individual artists. Currently, there are 20,000 long-term African residents in Guangzhou, while many Chinese have settled down in Africa. In the future, more artists from one country can go to another under the support of Internet finance, working as cultural ambassadors between China and South Africa.