Calligraphy and Painting

Cinema

Realistic films are the mainstream of Chinese cinema. In the new wave of film-making that rose up in the mid-1980s, realistic works reached a high level of creativity in their depiction of life, variety of subjects, styles and forms, and in the exploration and innovation of cinematic language. The "fifth-generation" directors, including Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Huang Jianxin rose to fame during this period, becoming international cinema celebrities. >>more

Cultural Exchange

In recent years, China has actively conducted cultural exchanges with other countries. So far, China has reached governmental cultural agreements with 143 countries and signed 700 plans on annual cultural exchange. Every year Ministry of Culture authorizes 2,000 cultural exchange projects with more than 60 to 70 countries and involving about 30,000 people. >>more

Museums

There are 1,517 museums now in China. Local non-governmental museums included, the number of museums nationwide has reached some 2,000. With a collection of over 20 million items, these museums hold more than 8,000 exhibitions every year. Some museums of cultural relics, such as the Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Xi'an, have become internationally known tourist attractions. The government encourages exchanges of cultural relics exhibitions between museums and promotes the display and exchanges of legal non-governmental collections. Beijing, as the capital of China, has 123 museums, with an annual number of over 30 million visitors.  >>more

Literature

The Book of Songs, China's first anthology of poems and earliest literary achievement, was compiled in the 6th century B.C. Literature that followed in the long succession of dynasties includes pre-Qin prose in a simple style, magnificent Han Dynasty fu (rhymed prose), and the yuefu (folk songs) of the end of the Han Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty alone can be credited with thousands of poets, including Li Bai, Du Fu and Bai Juyi, who left more than 50,000 enduring poems. The Song Dynasty was known for its ci (lyrics). The most notable achievement of the Yuan Dynasty literature was the zaju (a type of poetic drama set to music). The Ming and Qing dynasties saw the production of four masterpieces of the novel: Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West and A Dream of Red Mansions. They have been celebrated for centuries for their rich historical and cultural connotations and unique styles. >>more

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees citizens' freedom of speech and information. With the economic development that started in the 1980s, Chinese media have become more diversified as they extend their reach throughout China through multiple transmission, including satellites, wireless and wired systems. Today, there are over 2,000 newspapers, over 8,000 magazines, 282 radio stations and 374 TV stations in China. By the end of 2004, there were 774 medium- and short-wave radio transmitting and relay stations, and 114.7 million households with access to cable television, covering 94.1 and 95.3 percent of the population, respectively. >>more

Operas

World Cultural and Natural Heritage in China

In August 2004, the 28th Session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee (WHC) was held in the famous historical and cultural city of Suzhou. The convention decided to add to the World Heritage List the capital cities and tombs of the ancient Koguryo Kingdom, the Imperial Palace of the Qing Dynasty in Shenyang, and three imperial mausoleums of Shengjing in Liaoning Province. Dating back some 2,000 years, the ancient Koguryo Kingdom sites are located mainly in Ji'an city, Jilin Province and Huanren County, Liaoning Province, including three cities, 12 tombs of Koguryo kings, 26 tombs of the nobility, Haotaiwang Stele and No.1 Grave of the General's Tomb. The Imperial Palace in Shenyang and the three imperial mausoleums were included in the list as extensions to the Imperial Palace and Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. >>more

Publishing

The Chinese publishing industry has continued to grow. In 2004 China published 25.77 billion copies of national-level and provincial-level newspapers, 2.69 billion magazines, and 6.44 billion books.
Since 2002 when China began incorporation of its publishing industry, altogether 55 publishing groups have been set up. The largest, China Publishing Group, established in April 2003, has under its umbrella 12 large enterprises and institutes including the Commercial Press, the Zhonghua Book Company, the DSX Book Company, and the main store of the Xinhua Bookstore,  >>more

Traditional Arts and Crafts

China boasts a wide variety of arts and crafts renowned for excellent workmanship. Under the protection of the Chinese government, many have been handed down to this very day. Many are sold abroad to an appreciative overseas market.
Special arts and crafts, a combination of precious or special materials, elaborate design and process, are elegant and graceful. Jade carving craftsmen, taking advantage of the natural lines, luster and colors of their jadestone raw material, ingeniously match the shape of the craft-piece to that of the jade, >>more

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