Two-way street

According to the five-year plan, the country aimed to take full advantage of both domestic and overseas cultural resources, and take the initiative in international cooperation and competition.

"In fact, what the government wanted more was to bring the country's culture products overseas. But in order to do that, we also have to open our own market wider to foreign products. The import and export should reach a balance," Zhang said.

The export of China's cultural products increased fast with greater variety, he said.

Zhang noted that the export of China's handicraft products and publication copyrights had been increasing over the past five years, and overseas sales of Chinese films were also better.

Additionally, figures from the ministry showed that the ratio of book imports to exports was 9 to 1 in 2003. That had narrowed to 3.4 to 1 in 2009.

"In the past, our cultural products were sent overseas through governmental channels and chances were that foreigners didn't like them," Zhang said. "Now companies play a much bigger part. They sell cultural products that cater to overseas people's demands and let them make the choice. It's more flexible and rewarding."

Further, in 2009, 426 groups of Chinese artists gave about 16,000 commercial performances abroad.

On Dec. 3, the China-made animated feature film "The Dreams of Jinsha" marked its commercial screening debut in the United States -- the first time a Chinese animated film entered the international mainstream cinema.

The film, with an 80-million-yuan (12 million U.S. dollars) investment, tells the story of a young boy who travels through time to the ancient country of Jinsha and stops a destructive force with love and courage.

The Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles had arranged five screenings for the film every day during its prime time from 12:30 p.m. to 8:50 p.m.

According to producer Hangzhou C&L Digital Production Co., the film is also the first Chinese animated feature to be selected in the 15-film list eligible for the nomination of the Academy Awards Best Animated Feature Film category.