Hunan’s development philosophy combines arts, material wealth
Central China’s Hunan province has continuously promoted the integrated development of material progress and cultural and ethical wealth over the 40 years of reform and opening-up, and in the past five years has especially focused on the implementation of a culture-oriented strategy.
One major effort of the province, completed in 2004, was to establish a news release and spokesman system, which has expanded to city, district and county levels.
Through the system, governments at these levels can regularly announce important policies, work priorities and major activities, and also respond to social concerns.
Local officials said the system has not only helped to better protect the public’s right to know and to supervise, but also significantly increased the influence and public credibility of the news industry in Hunan. In the past five years, the province annually held an average of more than 90 news conferences, one of the most among all provinces.
In addition to newspapers, which used to be the major source of information, people today enjoy more diversified options to acquire information, including television, internet and news applications designed for mobile phones.
Hunan Daily Press, for example, has developed from a single newspaper company to a media group with 10 newspaper brands, two news portals and a mobile phone app. The number of its app users has exceeded 19 million.
Hunan Broadcasting System also went on to establish a nationwide footprint through satellite television in 1997, with its shows now available to an audience of 1.22 billion. HBS launched its local television station — Hunan TV — in 1970, and has since extended its programming from news coverage to variety shows, dramas and comedies.
Over the past decades, the province has promoted the philosophy of building socialism with Chinese characteristics and realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.
Gifted with rich “red resources” — cultural heritage and historical relics related to the history of the Communist Party of China, Hunan has organized a series of red educational activities and also strongly developed its red tourism industry.
Shaoshan, the birthplace of Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China, is a top red tourism destination in the province.
In 2017, Hunan’s red tourism spots received more than 100 million visits and generated 65 billion yuan ($9.43 billion) in tourist revenue.
Hunan is home to many household names, such as Yuan Longping, China’s “father of hybrid rice” and Li Guyi, one of the best known vocalists in China, and has nurtured a group of role models including 13 national moral models and 11 winners of the annual Touching China Award. The province also boasts more than 20,000 voluntary service organizations, with 9.6 million registered volunteers.
The past 40 years have witnessed a remarkable improvement in cultural project construction in Hunan.
The province has built or expanded 139 public libraries, 143 cultural centers, 149 museums, 24 art galleries and 82 intangible cultural heritage exhibition centers.
It has also constructed a group of cultural facilities in towns and villages, including more than 23,000 service centers and more than 44,000 book houses. Since 2008, the province has annually shown about 520,000 movies in rural areas for free, and also provided free access to all the public libraries, cultural centers and museums.
Hunan has developed a series of folk cultural festivals to boost the development of cultural tourism, and compiled a collection of 702 books in seven years to carry forward its excellent culture.