Research On Cultural Trade Policy Of China

As one of the fastest developed branches in the field of international trade in recent years, cultural trade has become an important part of global economy. In view of the fact that cultural trade has both economical and cultural attributes, cultural trade policy turns out to be a key issue that various governments are concerned about. During the past decade, China has witnessed rapid development in cultural trade, in which its import and export scale has been constantly expanding and its average annual growth rate has exceeded the global average rate. Nevertheless, Chinese cultural trade structure appears to develop unbalancedly. Although China has advanced into the largest country in global cultural export products and has maintained absolute surplus in total cultural products trade, cultural services and goods, which truly embody cultural connotation with high additional value, lack international competitiveness and confront continuous negative balance of trade. Besides, the percentage of Chinese cultural services and goods account for less than one percent in global market. Based on this background, the dissertation endeavors to deliberate on how to make cultural trade policy for China which abounds in abundant and profound historical and cultural resources, aiming at balancing the relationship between cultural trade liberalization and cultural diversity, enhancing the overall strength and international competitiveness of Chinese cultural goods and services and expanding the international influence of Chinese culture.Along the ’proposing problems-analysing problems-resolving problems’ logic, the thesis consists of six chapters on the whole. Chapter one serves as the introductory part. It mainly introduces research background and significance of the dissertation, makes commentary on literature review about relevant research status at home and abroad on cultural trade policy, puts forward major problems that need to be solved, summarizes principal research thoughts and contents, states research methodologies and demonstrates the contributions of the thesis. The current researches primarily focused on whether liberalization or protection about cultural trade. Relevant theoretical and empirical analysis provides essential research thoughts and materials for the dissertation. However, no research has touched upon theoretical summary and analysis about the connotations and features of cultural trade policy till now. In addition, there is no systematical research on the cultural trade policy of China. That is exactly what the dissertation attempts to make up.Chapter two is theoretical analysis to connotations and characteristics of cultural trade policy. It lays logical starting point and theoretical basis for the present dissertation. First of all, it definites the concept of cultural trade policy, based on the detailed explanation of several important concepts, that is, culture, cultural goods and services, and cultural trade. Cultural trade policy involves narrow and broad senses. Cultural trade policy in narrow sense refers to border measures directly influencing on import and export trade of cultural goods and services. While cultural trade policy in broad sense contains all economic and non-economic policies both directly and indirectly affecting cultural trade.This dissertation mainly discusses cultural trade policy in narrow sense as well as cultural management system and domestic supportive policies which have great influence on cultural trade indirectly. Cultural trade policy consists of four basic elements, that is, policy subject, policy object, policy target and policy measure. The above four basic elements form the integral connotation of cultural trade policy mutually. The target of cultural trade policy subject stipulates its object’s development direction. While the regularity demands of cultural trade policy object’s growth restrict content and mechanism of its subject’s policy options. Only when cultural trade policy is based on the objective rules, it can function as its objective guidance and policy guarantee. The double attributes of culture and commerce, which make cultural goods and services to be distinct from the other general commodities, are the important characters of cultural goods and services. Therefore, it is cultural trade policy’s fundamental target to maintain economic, cultural and social interests of particular class.The prominent feature of current international cultural trade lies in unbalancedness in international cultural market structure. Developed countries are situated in core position among global cultural trade pattern, especially America with powerful monopoly advantage. Under this background,’exceptional privilege’is a typical feature of cultural trade policy. Moreover, the complexity of cultural trade determines its policy measures’complicatedness, multiple optionality and invisibility. Accordingly, international cultural trade policy is confronted with an extremely challenging difficulty, which is to keep balance between cultural target of protecting and advocating culture diversity and trade liberalization target of seeking out more economic efficiency. When the scope, space and effect of cultural trade border measures are objectively confined, those measures within the border aiming to promote domestic cultural market reformation and cultivate core competitiveness of culture industry are likely to reduce restriction and discrimination, and would connect its economic, cultural and social targets comprehensively and achieve balance eventually.Chapter three demonstrates the current cultural trade policy system in China. Firstly, the dissertation presents major contents of current cultural trade policy system in China. Since the People’s Republic of China was founded, an important line of division to distinguish cultural industry and cultural undertaking has been officially declared in the Sixteenth CPC National Congress. Afterwards, Chinese cultural trade policy has gone through history evolution process starting from scratch, from import restriction oriented to export promotion oriented, from stressing on foreign cultural exchange to emphasizing foreign cultural trade. The current China cultural trade policy system is consists of the cultural trade policies encouraging export and restricting import. Dominated by the strategic goal of promoting cultural trade development, it has been the center of current Chinese cultural trade policy to encourage and support the export of cultural goods and services.The current government policies that encourage exports mainly involve export rewards and subsidies, taxation support, finance support, service support and system reform. Or rather, export rewards and subsidies as well as taxation support are major approaches of supporting export cultural goods and services; Finance support chiefly deals with fund-raising and risk problems that cultural export enterprises are confronted with; Service support affords favorable competitive surroundings and service guarantee for expanding overseas market of cultural export enterprises; Cultural system reform plays a significant role in fulfilling and inspiring cultural productivity and competitive potential of export-oriented cultural enterprises. Generally speaking, Chinese government policies are more characterized by administration-dominated resource allocation, in which essence it is a policy behavior that government tends to deliver resources to cultural industry department. Meanwhile, based on culture attribute of cultural goods and services, government is cautious about their opening degree and speed of those core cultural goods and services that are closely associated with ideology awareness but lack of competitiveness. Moreover, different degrees of protection measures are entirely taken to safeguard government culture and industry security. Both tariff and non-tariff measures are crucial means of import restriction in cultural trade. Since tariff measures are confined to restricting import cultural products and have weak effect on core cultural industry, non-tariff barriers, which are oriented to quantity limitation, local restriction and market access, turn out to be major measures to protect cultural goods and services. Even though current export-oriented cultural trade policies exert positive influence on Chinese cultural trade development, there are still two aspects of problems in comparison with their realistic demands. The first one is that cultural trade policy system is yet unsound. The legal validity level of policies is comparatively low. And the management system of cultural trade is not perfect. The second one is that the contents of cultural trade policy remain limitations, which embody in vague distinction between cultural goods trade policy and cultural service trade policy as well as insufficient efforts to cultivate cultural industry competitiveness and to support micro culture export enterprises. All those problems above are essential to be further adjusted and solved for cultural trade policy in China.Chapter four states effect evaluation about current cultural trade policy in China. To evaluate the effect of current cultural trade policy is objective basis to acquire further improvement. The effect evaluation system of cultural trade policy is bound to establish to assess their economic, social and cultural security benefits, of which economic benefits are reflected in cultural trade interests and industry efficiency, social benefits in the degree and scale of cultural influence, cultural security benefits in international competitiveness of cultural goods and services. It is shown in the evaluation result that current cultural trade policies prove to have obvious impact on promoting labor and resource-intensive cultural products, enhancing their productivity and industry security. Nevertheless, it is not evident to realize trade balance of cultural services and cultural goods which embody cultural contents and improve their competitiveness. Current cultural trade policies have a positive effect on spreading national influential scope of cultural goods and services but have less effect on enhancing the international influence of Chinese culture and maintaining national culture security. Furthermore, the efficiency of current cultural trade policies from 2003 to 2012 has been empirically examined. It has proved that the government policy support and finance support have been more efficient. While export-oriented policy remains inelastic in enhancing the whole development of cultural trade. Thus, it is likely to be the key point of China cultural trade policy to promote cultural services and cultural goods which embody cultural contents trade efficiently in the future.Chapter five makes a detailed analysis of main influential facotrs on Chinese cultural trade policy choices. The dissertation deliberates on major domestic and international factors influencing Chinese cultural trade policy choices. Firstly, national interests and goals as well as Chinese Economic New Normal are important domestic elements. To realize great rejuvenation of China in Chinese dream calls for the promotion of national soft power. The cultural trade referring to economy, culture and security interests plays a significant part in promoting national soft power. In that case, it is conformity with strategic requirements of national economic, cultural and social development, to promote development through opening up, absorb foreign fabulous culture accomplishments actively with national culture oriented, encourage integration and innovation and implement positive cultural trade promotion policy. Chinese Economic New Normal, which is characterized by fast economic growth, optimal economic structure and innovative economic force, has brought about new development opportunity for cultural trade, provided material guarantee and market force for choicing positive and open cultural trade policy and shown the focus and direction of cultural trade policy to be encouraging and supporting the cultural services and cultural goods which embody cultural contents trade. Secondly, World Trade Organization and cultural trade relationship between China and America become the two major international factors influencing cultural trade policy choices in China. WTO member countries failed to reach consensus in terms of several important issues on cultural goods and services in WTO Rules Negotiation, including obscure attribute division about cultural products as commodity or service, controversial interpretation of relevant terminologies in rules and terms, vague application range of exceptional regulations about cultural goods and services. As a consequence, all these contribute to ambiguous obligations about cultural goods and services in WTO member countries and make it difficult to achieve effective balance of diverse commercial and cultural values between WTO member countries by GATT1994 and GATS. The opening degrees of cultural goods and services trade are limited in every country. There are still different degrees of discriminatory treatment. Therefore, it is likely to increase the numbers of trade disputes in the field of cultural trade. As the largest culture export country throughout the world, America tremendously stimulates cultural trade liberalization. China has increasingly displayed enormous culture market potential, which eventually has become important target of American culture export. In order to force China to open up culture market, America makes attempt to raise culture trade disputes and exert pressure. The issues of market access and intellectual property have been the focus of cultural trade conflicts between China and America. Lastly, according to analyse bilateral cultural product trade statistics of China as well as 35 major trade partner from 2003 to 2012 through static and dynamic gravity model, the dissertation proves crucial factors and mechanism on Chinese cultural product trade, which also determines policy orientation of cultural product trade in China. It turns out that the consumption, culture and knowledge spreading effect of the consumption network externality of cultural goods has apparently promoted the development of cultural trade. Thus, in order to protect and develop national culture diversity, it is more supposed to encourage national cultural enterprises to innovate, produce and export than merely limit cultural products to import. Meanwhile, the promotion effect of consumption network externality on cultural trade has certain hysteresis. Accordingly, it is not likely to count on government export promotion policy to take instant effect. Government should devote to develop permanent innovation and competitive competence of cultural enterprises and focus on equity and sustainability of culture marketing process. The economic market scale of bilateral trade regions and countries is another important element of influencing bilateral cultural trade. Domestic demands and scale economy play significant role in forming local culture market effect and improving the efficiency of resource allocation to the maximum. Those cultural product export encouragement polices, which are oriented at external market and low cost advantage, appear to simply make China a large cultural trade country at macro level instead of a virtually powerful cultural trade country. It is crucial to Chinese cultural trade policy that how to take advantage of huge national market and place emphasis on the cultivation of internal market so that local market effect is expected to become new source of cultural trade competitive advantage in China.Chapter six makes suggestions on the adjustment of the cultural trade policy of China. The dissertation proposes suggestions on the adjustment of Chinese cultural trade policy in three aspects which is cultural trade policy goals, management mechanism and policy measures. Firstly, cultural trade policy goals should be set clearly. The ultimate target of Chinese cultural trade policy is to motivate national culture creativity on the basis of realizing national interests, to enhance overall strength and international competitiveness of culture industry, to promote Chinese profound culture to the world as well as preserve national culture identity and mainstream values, and to expand international influence of Chinese culture. In the process of realizing the ultimate target of the cultural trade policy of China, the two most important intermediate targets at the present stage are to integrate into global culture industry value chain in an advanced way and to transform cultural trade development modes. The above targets indicate directions for selection and improvement of cultural trade policies in China. Secondly, thorough cultural trade policy system and management mechanism have to be established. A thorough cultural trade policy system and supreme force of law offer the government administrative legal basis. Effective and cooperative organization management mechanism as well as government function orientation is vital to improve executive efficiency of cultural trade policies. Thirdly, the cultural trade policy measures should be adjusted. The focus of cultural trade policies is expected to shift from border measures to measures within the border. When there are still limitations of influence scale, implementation space and policy effect of traditional border measures about cultural trade policies, it is likely to transfer their focus to measures within the border that are targeted at promoting the reformation of domestic culture industry and cultivating core competitiveness of culture industry so as to form effective interactions between the border measures and measures within the border. What’s more, it is necessary to design the different policies for cultural services trade and cultural goods trade respectively. The main focus of Chinese cultural trade policies should be cultural services and original cultural products which stand at the high-end segment of cultural industry global value chain. Lastly, it is likely to shift the focus of multilateral cultural trade policies to bilateral, plurilateral or regional trade agreements with high standard and high quality, which are based on global value chain and international labor division network and cover more extensive issues.