Liu Yuzhu, director of the Market Department under the Ministry of Culture (MOC) made the remarks at a national conference on grassroots cultural work held in Beijing from Monday to Wednesday.

According to Liu, a regulation on commercial performances which had been discussed by cultural officials for one year, has now been publicized, and will be formally enacted after one month's publicity.

The regulation will greatly affect overseas art groups, individuals and companies, Liu said. He explained that the regulation has widened certain conditions like capital and qualifications, for local companies which intended to invite overseas art groups to perform in China. This will provide foreign art groups with more chances and options for cultural exchanges with Chinese people.

The regulation was first enacted on August 11, 1997, and revised on March 5, 1998. The upgraded regulation which was publicized on Tuesday, makes readjustments in accordance with China's commitments in entering the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Liu said various differences between the new regulation and the previous one include opening the cultural market to the whole society and encouraging people of all walks of life to strive for the development of art troupes; dividing government administration, business operations and agency transactions; strengthening market integrity and allowing more state groups to directly invite foreign troupes, companies or individuals; further simplifying government entry procedures while still maintaining double checks on qualifications and performance contents.

China's cultural market has great potential, Liu said. Statistics from the MOC show that in 2002, China has 2,632 state art troupes, 1,949 private troupes, 222 model teams and 1,911 theaters for art performances, employing 23 people. In 2000, 554,000 performances were staged, entertaining a total audience of 569 million.

(China Daily April 25, 2002)