Cultural clusters and cultural industries in China

Anthony Y. H. FUNG, John N ERNI

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

31 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Through examining the development and the nature of the new cultural districts in China, namely, "clusters of Beijing," this paper attempts to identify the characteristics of, and critically evaluate, the existing models of culture clusters in China. Obviously, these cultural clusters are seen as a united and state effort to assist, develop and boost the so-called cultural industries, including game, animation, comic, software, science and technology and so forth. However, with the clusters of Beijing as a case study, in this paper we argue that in the course of development, the state interests and the authorities' local (e.g. district) interest are often prioritized over the culture or the local interest. There are also tensions and contradictions among various interest groups on different levels of operations of these cultural clusters. In sum, apart from enhancing the private creative industries, developing the national cultural economy, or revitalizing the old industries as in the cluster models of many western countries, economic interests, political powers of the districts and soft power of the nation can be the overriding interests behind the booming cultural clusters in China. Copyright © 2013 Taylor & Francis.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)644-656
JournalInter-Asia Cultural Studies
Volume14
Issue number4
Early online dateSept 2013
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2013

Citation

Fung, A. Y. H., & Erni, J. N. (2013). Cultural clusters and cultural industries in China. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 14(4), 644-656. doi: 10.1080/14649373.2013.831207

Keywords

  • Culture clusters
  • Cultural industries
  • China
  • Model of clusters

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