"The world financial meltdown has brought people more pressure as they worry about the future, and people need something to relieve this pressure, said Li Wuwei, Vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, in a speech at the forum."The culture and creative industry, such as online gaming, always caters to people's spiritual demands. It can provide them with happiness at a relatively low cost."

The culture industry, which is based on knowledge and creativity, features relatively low input but high added value and efficiency compared with traditional industries, Li said.

In recent years, the cultural and creative industry in some large Chinese cities has had a much faster growth rate than traditional industries. Central Government data show that the growth rate of revenue from the innovation industry of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2007 was 19.4, 22.8 and 25.9 percent, respectively, while their GDP growth rates were 12.3, 13.3 and 15 percent.

Besides being a profitable industry itself, the culture and creative industry also can build up the country's cultural image, or soft power, which could have a huge positive effect on the real economy. Li cited South Korea as an example.

"After the South Korean film, TV and pop music industries emerged from the debris of the 1990s' economic crisis, the South Korean government invested in them and sponsored all the subtitle translation projects to export its soap operas to neighboring countries," Li said. "The well-received South Korean TV soap operas created a trend in Asia in South Korea's favor, and thus gave impetus to South Korea's exports and tourism."

But experts at the forum also pointed out that China must do several things well before it can fully take advantage of developing its culture and creative industry. Chen Shaofeng, Vice-dean of Peking University's Institute for Cultural Industries, suggested that the Central Government implement more favorable policies for small enterprises, the mainstay of the culture and creative industry.

"I think the Central Government should reform the enterprise registration system to lower the threshold for opening businesses," Chen said. "We could reduce the amount of capital required to register a company."

Many other steps, such as lowering the threshold of initial public offerings for small innovative enterprises, also could be taken to help finance them to grow, he said.

"We should also respect the copyrights of our cultural products," said Zhang Zhizhong, Executive Vice-President of the Greater China Region of the Walt Disney Co. "With that achieved, we will see more creative ideas come into being in the future."

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