Cultural consumption highlights in 2014 (2)

43% of music albums are sold in digital form; low-budget films win great success; more and more fiction, films and television plays become sources of cartoons; self-publishing make it possible to issue your own publications—along with new trends in globalized culture , what will be the cultural highlights in China in 2014?

Performance Arts: return to rationality

The "Statistics and Analyses of 2013 Beijing Performing Market" issued by the Beijing Association of Performing Arts suggest that in 2013, 23155 performances were held in Beijing, bringing in total revenues of 1.442 billion yuan. This represented a 5% drop compared with the previous year. In 2013, because of the "eight-point regulation" issued by CPC Central Committee Political Bureau on rejecting extravagance and reducing bureaucratic visits, meetings and empty talk, the performing arts business experienced a slow-down, but it also presented an opportunity for highly market-oriented performances such as concerts and dramas.

According to Li Dashi, secretary general of the China Association of Performing Arts, the market took a hit from the reduction of block bookings by government organizations in 2013. The total turnover of the performing arts industry in 2013 is expected to fall by about 25%. The regulations issued by CPC Central Committee have stopped the waste of government funds; at the same time they will help the performing arts market return to a more rational structure.