Passing on cultural heritage and tradition, pursuing cultural innovation and creativity: China Daily editorial

As China advances toward the goal of building a modern socialist country in all respects, culture is emerging not only as a new driver of economic growth and high-quality development, but also as a source of national confidence and social vitality.

The Forum on Building up China's Cultural Strength 2026, which opened in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Thursday reflects this broader shift. The forum focuses on passing on cultural heritage and tradition, and pursuing cultural innovation and creativity.

Coming at the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period, the forum underscores the growing recognition that cultural prosperity, service-sector upgrading and innovation-driven development are becoming increasingly interconnected with the country's modernization.

China's per capita GDP surpassed the $10,000 threshold in the mid-2010s. Since then, cultural consumption has accelerated significantly. Official data show that domestic tourism trips in 2025 exceeded 6.5 billion, up more than 16 percent year-on-year, while tourism expenditure reached 6.3 trillion yuan ($875 billion), both record highs. Meanwhile, the value-added output of tourism and related industries accounted for about 4.35 percent of China's GDP.

The 15th Five-Year Plan treats culture as a horizontal policy instrument embedded across the broader economy. Through "culture plus industry" models, cultural resources are being integrated into manufacturing, tourism, urban renewal and technology development. Historical districts, heritage sites and museums are no longer viewed merely as preservation projects, but as economic zones capable of generating consumption, employment and innovation. This marks a structural shift from "culture as industry" toward "culture for economic transformation".

China's rapid expansion of public cultural services reflects this. By the end of 2025, the country had established more than 70,000 public libraries nationwide, while museums, reading spaces and digital cultural platforms have become increasingly accessible to ordinary citizens.

At the same time, digital technology is reshaping cultural creation and participation on an unprecedented scale. The integration of artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, digital publishing and short-video platforms is expected to become one of the core growth engines of China's cultural sector.

By lowering the production and distribution costs of cultural goods, digital platforms and AI technologies are accelerating cultural participation and human capital formation. Online literature, micro-dramas, interactive entertainment and AI-assisted content creation are expanding access to cultural products while creating new service-sector business models.

This transition is already visible across China's booming digital economy. Chinese online literature now has around 200 million active overseas users, while Chinese micro-drama applications have expanded into more than 160 countries and regions. Movie productions such as Ne Zha 2 and the global popularity of Chinese short-video content demonstrate how the fusion of traditional culture and digital innovation is enhancing both economic value and the country's international cultural influence.

In knowledge-based economies, highly skilled talent gravitates toward cities and regions with strong cultural ecosystems, vibrant creative industries and high-quality public services. By leveraging cultural amenities to attract creative talent, China is strengthening the interaction between cultural vitality and innovation-driven growth.

Meanwhile, related efforts to build an independent Chinese knowledge system in philosophy and social sciences are becoming increasingly important as China seeks to provide intellectual frameworks rooted in its own development experience while contributing new perspectives to global governance, modernization and civilizational exchanges.

Culture carries the memory of a civilization, but it also shapes future productivity, creativity and social cohesion. As China moves toward the goal of becoming a cultural powerhouse by 2035, the interaction between cultural prosperity, technological innovation and service-sector transformation is likely to form a new virtuous cycle. Rising incomes stimulate cultural consumption, cultural participation strengthens human capital and creativity, and stronger innovation capacity in turn generates new momentum for high-quality development.

In that sense, culture is no longer merely a reflection of development. It is increasingly becoming one of its engines.