China backs small cultural companies

BEIJING - China is to lend more support to micro and small cultural companies in financing, taxation and personnel management.

"High costs and financing remain obstacles for small companies, and our guideline encourages banks and other finance institutes to be more generous when granting them loans," said Liu Yuzhu, assistant minister of culture.

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The guideline, jointly released by the ministries of culture, finance, industry and information technology, targets cultural groups with less than 100 staff. Such companies comprise over 80 percent of all cultural enterprises in China.

The document encourages companies to convert disused factories or warehouses into their working bases and organize and participate in public cultural activities.

The ministry is planning a regulation for government departments to purchase cultural products and services from a widened range of companies and organizations to give more commercial opportunities for small companies.

The ministry is exploring a professional title system that will increase salaries and benefits for those working in non-public cultural companies in accordance with their experience and achievements, and thus, enable these groups to attract more talent.

"Micro and small cultural groups enrich our culture, boost creativity and prosperity and increase employment opportunities. They are of crucial importance to social harmony, economic transformation and upgrades," said Cai Wu, minister of the Ministry of Culture.

With low employment barriers and more artistic freedom, small companies are more astute in understanding people's spiritual demands, Cai said.

The guideline, echoing a decision by the Communist Party of China last year, offers suggestions on innovation, finance and tax.

"The guideline is only a starting point. Whether these companies can really succeed lies in enforcement of regulations," Cai added.