TY - JOUR
T1 - Cultural policy between the state and the market
T2 - Regulation, creativity and contradiction
AU - Tong, Q. S.
AU - HUNG, Ruth Y Y
N1 - Funding Information:
Fourthly, the state’s investment in the cultural sectors is seen as crucial for the cultural life of ethnic minorities. A centralised state management of cultural activity in the regions of ethnic minorities proves especially effective for the development of minority culture. This is the area where the policy continuity between the prereform and reform periods is most manifest. Since its assumption of state power in 1949, the CCP has been consistent in devising policies favourable to minority cultural formations, languages, folk cultural traditions and customary ways of life. Over the years, the central government has established task forces and steering committees at different governmental levels to oversee the collection, editing, publication and translation of some of the most representative works of art and literature from the ethnic minorities. It provides needed financial support for research institutions and quality assurance for large-scale cultural projects. Furthermore, it establishes a large number of local cultural institutions so as to renew and propagate indigenous and local forms of cultural practice at the grassroots level. More significant for the preservation of the cultural traditions of the ethnic minorities is the establishment of educational institutions at different levels that are designed to promote studies of these ethnic minorities, especially of their languages. Since the early 1950s, the central government made joint efforts with the municipal governments to preserve indigenous cultures. Their co-organised projects range from the collecting and publishing of folk songs, mythologies and local histories to the renovation of such architectural symbols of the ethnic religious traditions as the Potala Palace in Tibet, Lhasa. According to a State Council White Paper on Chinese policies on the ethnic minorities, by the end of 2008, the government funds had enabled the establishment of 651 performing companies, 604 libraries, 240 museums and 6859 local cultural centres in the regions inhabited by the ethnic minorities (The State Council 2009).
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - China's spectacular economic development has altered radically not only the accepted understanding of the relationship between cultural work and the state, but also the social foundation of state cultural policy. Cultural industries are subject to a set of new regulatory forces. This essay discusses the emergence of these new forces that govern cultural work and considers how cultural practice must respond to both the state's political demands and market imperatives. We will pay special attention to the new conditions under which the state ideology is forced to limit its traditional role and to seek to assert its legitimacy and authority in new forms. Thirty years after the reforms, it is no longer possible to insist on the total authority of cultural policy emanating from the state ideology. In addressing contradictions in the management of cultural work brought about by the reforms, this essay will consider challenges faced by the Chinese government, including such issues as national cultural identity, protection of regional and minority art forms, social responsibility of art and the tension between high and commercial culture.
AB - China's spectacular economic development has altered radically not only the accepted understanding of the relationship between cultural work and the state, but also the social foundation of state cultural policy. Cultural industries are subject to a set of new regulatory forces. This essay discusses the emergence of these new forces that govern cultural work and considers how cultural practice must respond to both the state's political demands and market imperatives. We will pay special attention to the new conditions under which the state ideology is forced to limit its traditional role and to seek to assert its legitimacy and authority in new forms. Thirty years after the reforms, it is no longer possible to insist on the total authority of cultural policy emanating from the state ideology. In addressing contradictions in the management of cultural work brought about by the reforms, this essay will consider challenges faced by the Chinese government, including such issues as national cultural identity, protection of regional and minority art forms, social responsibility of art and the tension between high and commercial culture.
KW - cultural industries and cultural market
KW - cultural policy and governmentality
KW - socialism and marketisation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84860299933&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/10286632.2012.662963
DO - 10.1080/10286632.2012.662963
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84860299933
SN - 1028-6632
VL - 18
SP - 265
EP - 278
JO - International Journal of Cultural Policy
JF - International Journal of Cultural Policy
IS - 3
ER -
