Just as housing and cars drive today's consumption in China, the cultural industry including cultural and entertainment products and services will be an engine of economic growth, a top Beijing-based think-tank says.

And the cultural industry can be tuned to play a harmonious note: promoting coordinated development among different regions, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a yearbook published yesterday.

Zhang Xiaoming, a researcher with the academy, said as decision-makers formulate development schemes for the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10), they may count on the cultural industry to enhance co-operation and reduce competition among different regions.

Economically and culturally, the coastal regions are more advanced than the central and western parts, Zhang's research team says in the "Report on Development of China's Cultural Industry (2006)."

But the central and western regions are by far abundant in cultural resources, so in the long run, the eastern areas need them for sustainable development.

East or west, the cultural industry will undoubtedly become the strategic focus of their economic and social development, the report observes.

It is time for eastern regions to help take the cultural industry in the western and central parts to the global market, it says.

For the western and central parts, where natural resources are relatively scarce and the ecology is fragile, the cultural industry which is environmentally friendly shows the way forward, the book says.

If the cultural industry is developed to replace traditional industries in the western and central regions, it will reshape the development path for those areas, the book concludes.

Nationwide, spending on the cultural industry has been on the rise over the past few years, which researchers believe will upgrade the country's consumption structure.

In 2004, urbanites' spending on education, cultural and entertainment services increased by 10.5 per cent year on year to reach 1,033 yuan (US$128) per capita.

Last year, the expenditure of rural and urban residents on cultural activities alone is expected to exceed 415 billion yuan (US$51 billion), according to the book.

As the country's per capita consumption is projected to grow by an average of 10.8 per cent annually till 2020, spending on the cultural industry will also rise, according to the researchers.

This can be seen in the surging spending on tourism, information and home entertainment goods and services, the book says.

The growth of the industry will play a crucial part in spurring a shift in the economic growth mode and contributing to building a harmonious society, the researchers say.

(China Daily January 12, 2006)