Xiamen FTZ tops review of cultural export bases
The Ministry of Commerce recently announced the results of the second comprehensive review of national cultural export bases.
The national cultural export base of the Xiamen Area of the China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) – located in the city of Xiamen in East China's Fujian province – ranked first in the assessment's functional zone category for the second consecutive year.
Since it was approved in June 2018, the Xiamen FTZ cultural export base – leveraging its functional and geographical advantages – has expanded considerably in size and scale. It has been expanding the scale of its bonded cultural products and services, as well as its cultural trade – centering on art, creative designs, film, television and associated performances, digital content and new media and its press, publications and distribution.
Data showed that in 2020 and 2021, the value of the base's imports and exports of cultural products and services was 22 billion yuan ($3.26 billion), with an average growth of 12.87 percent in the two years. By 2021, the base had registered 2,273 cultural enterprises with a total registered capital of 19.4 billion yuan.
Currently, the Xiamen FTZ culture export base is home to 17 national cultural export companies, ranking it first among the 29 such bases in China. It has also undertaken three key culture export projects, including the Chinese Publication Exhibition Tour in Southeast Asia.
Xiamen has been vigorously developing the trade in service sector for many years. In the first half of this year, Xiamen's import and export volume of service in trade reached 38.46 billion yuan, up 27.1 percent year-on-year, among which export volume reached 23.8 billion yuan, up 42.5 percent.
Xiamen now has four national special service export bases: the national culture export base, national digital service export base, national traditional Chinese medicine service export base and the language service export base.
A file photo of Thailand's main venue of the Sixth Chinese Publication Exhibition Tour in Southeast Asia. [Photo/WeChat account: xiamen_swj]
Why Xiamen
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Xiamen is one of the most economically competitive cities in China and was one of the first Special Economic Zones on the Chinese mainland. As a vice-provincial city independently listed on the State development plan, it has provincial-level authority in economic administration and local legislative power. In 2010, the Xiamen SEZ was expanded to cover the entire municipality. Today, Xiamen is a modern and international port city.