How cultural trade connects Chinese cultural dissemination and economic development

Editor's note: Xin Yueyou is an associate professor at the Research Center for Regional Coordinated Development of Zhejiang University of China. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Cultural trade serves as a crucial link connecting cultural dissemination and economic development, providing a "new growth engine" for promoting cultural exchange and trade between China and the world. China's total import and export value of cultural products reached $166.36 billion, with exports amounting to $148.41 billion and imports at $17.96 billion in 2023, signifying the rapid growth of cultural trade cooperation in recent years. The Ministry of Commerce and other public affairs departments jointly released the lists of 404 key cultural export enterprises and 121 key projects (2025-2026), which will play an important role in driving China's ongoing efforts to stimulate cultural export and exchange.

Promoting high-quality development of cultural trade is not only an inevitable requirement for economic transformation and development, but also a wise choice to enhance the influence of Chinese civilization and build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Strengthening technology empowerment for China's cultural exports

Digital technology is increasingly becoming an essential tool for cultural exports, creating novel methods of cultural dissemination and new ecosystems for cultural products manufacture and marketing, which significantly enhances the efficiency and value of cultural trade by empowering immersive experiences and trade ecosystem restructuring. For instance, big data can map out the details of cultural preferences of global audiences, while AI technology recommendations enable different people to match different styles of cultural products. Virtual reality technology allows people in foreign countries to "visit" the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang and experience the magnificence of millennia-old murals. Augmented reality helps audiences abroad to participate in "virtual tours" of the Forbidden City. Also, the popular pastoral life videos of Li Ziqi on YouTube and "Hanfu Shows" on TikTok have successfully drawn international attention, helping Chinese cultural content creators to go global. Technology also creates immersive cultural experiences that break down barriers of geography and mentality.

Enhancing China's cultural exports needs high-quality people-to-people bonds

People-to-people bonds are a vital component of cultural exchange, forming the foundation for daily international communication and trade collaboration, which is an efficient and dynamic way of enhancing bilateral and multilateral equal exchanges and dialogues. Thousands of Chinese engineers, doctors, teachers and entrepreneurs are actively participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, facilitating business opportunities and working together with the people, companies and governments of BRI partner countries, which jointly promote mutual cultural understanding and recognition, and benefit for China's cultural exports. Thus, public and private sectors should provide scholars, artists, young entrepreneurs and cultural celebrities with solid assistance to "going global" so as to share the essence of China's cultural products and development experience of the cultural industry with the world. In addition, governments, universities and schools should build numerous high-quality platforms, such as international art festivals, academic forums, and collaborative research projects to further facilitate people-to-people exchanges.

Promoting China's cultural exports should develop a mechanism of joint building through consultation, therefore meeting the interests of all parties

The establishment of mechanisms and policies enables China's cultural exports and cultural exchanges to get better development in the near future, and should build the principle of planning together, building together and benefiting together. Firstly, a mechanism should be established to ensure the export supply of high-quality Chinese cultural products, emphasizing the importance of common understanding and recognition of Chinese culture and the culture of other countries. This includes cultural products design and trade services that are of higher quality and align with the global trends. Secondly, support for Chinese cultural enterprises "going global" should be strengthened through tax reductions, enhancing the business environment, intellectual property application and protection, and talents to support cultural enterprises to become more innovative and effective. Thirdly, research and development of cultural products should be enhanced to continuously make new cultural products. The role of overseas students as a bridge should be leveraged, supporting them to become promoters of Chinese culture and China's cultural exports and more talents should be provided additionally are important guarantees for promoting Chinese culture overseas, which advance China's cultural trade and cooperation with the world to a higher level.