1、1. Creative China must find its ownPath 网站截图： http:/ 原文： Creative China must find its own Path Justin 0Connor It is commonly said that China needs to catch-up with the west or the developed world. This phrase implies a singular path； there may be short cuts and late-comer advantages but the destinat
2、ion 一 a modern, developed country 一 is the same. But just when it seems China is within touching distance, the developed world changes the definition of what it is to be developed and puts more obstacles in the path of those trying to catch-up. In English we call this moving the goal-posts. After ma
3、nufacturing, services and high-technology seemed to present clear goals for China, the cultural creative industries arrive as the new value-added product and service sector, posing yet more problems for the countrys policy-makers. Many in the West have argued that China will take a long time to catc
4、h-up in these areas and that this provides a new source of competitive advantage to the West. Indeed, for some, the absence of a competitive cultural creative industries sector is evidence that China is not, and maybe can never be, fully developed. Much of this can be dismissed as another example of
5、 the Wests superiority complex； however, there can be no doubt that the cultural creative industries present great possibilities but also great challenges for China. These industries 一 from visual and performing arts, to recorded music, film and TV, to digital animation and new media services, throu
6、gh to fashion, design and architecture 一 are highly creative and innovative products and services, relying on complex flows of knowledge and intellectual property. They are also cultural or symbolic products that reflect and influence our pleasures and ambitions, and our individual and collective se
7、nse of meaning and identity. For these reasons all nations have sought to protect and develop their own national culture and traditions by investing in cultural infrastructure and expertise. In the second half of the twentieth century this was expanded beyond the arts，一 galleries, museums, opera hou
8、ses, universities, arts schools, journals etc. 一 to include broadcast media, film, publishing and recorded music. In the last 20 years the emphasis has shifted from building economic infrastructures for reasons of national cultural identity to mobilizing culture and creativity for reasons of economi
9、c development. The cultural creative industries are now strongly linked with the knowledge economy, which emphasizes high levels of research, knowledge transfer and, above all, innovation. In the West artists or cultural producers have long been associated with dynamic, often unpredictable creative
10、innovation. Now the innovative capacity of the cultural industries is extended to a new range of creative products and services and is also seen as a catalyst for innovation right across the economy. In China this agenda has also meant moving beyond the idea of a better industrialization or marketis
11、ation of existing cultural products towards a more systematic approach to the idea of cultural and creative innovation and its wider economic impacts. This demands the ability to anticipate new products and services, finding new audiences, differentiating rather than imitating what already sells. It
12、 requires new kinds of soft skills that are hard to acquire as they are oftentacit, demanding experience rather than formal education (though this is also necessary). It demands understanding different models of production, complex value chains and the interaction between cultural, creative and busi
13、ness skills. In the last few years the central driving force behind cultural and creative industries policies has been the idea of cluster. Starting from a few isolated examples in Beijing, Shanghai and other smaller coastal cities the concept has now become a central policy platform. Cultural and c
14、reative clusters exist in the West, though these terms cover extremely diverse developments. There are some good reasons why China would choose this policy platform above others. In many large cities experiencing de-industrialisation there are empty factories that seem ripe for this kind of developm
15、ent. The model of concentration to facilitate rapid development also fits well with Chinas history of collectivization and more recently its development of high-tech and other R&D parks. Clusters are also attractive to policy makers because they are highly visible 一 successful ones give publicity to
16、 them and the city. At the same time they offer clear and concrete steps to support a sector that is very new and not very well understood. However, there are some real problems to be overcome if these clusters are to deliver what is expected of them. Many clusters emerged organically, with artists
17、looking for cheap workspace； but in China, as in the West, they soon drew attention from property developers. The first big problem faced by clusters is that cultural and creative producers raise the profile of a place and this is very quickly translated into rent rises, typically driving out the fi
18、rst occupants. This is a complex problem, but my main point would be that policy cannot be driven by the dynamics of real estate. Some have said that if creative industries are seconomically important we should let the market decide. There is some truth in this； it is very easy to subsidise bad arti
19、sts and creative producers. However, the dynamics of real estate markets and the creative economy are very different, especially at the early stages. Cultural profile can raise rents much more rapidly than with other kinds of occupancy, often from a low base, and can provide good profit. But these r
20、ent rises are often too fast for a slowly emerging sector, which is not just to be seen as individual companies but as a complex emerging creative ecology. The real estate market measures good or bad creative by their ability to pay the rent, not on their long-term effect on innovation. There are ea
21、sy measures for real estate success 一 higher rent yield 一 but how are we measuring the innovative capacity of the local economy? In general, local governments should not give tax breaks to real estate companies and then allow them to apply pure market rules to rents. More subtle intelligence and pol
22、icy instruments are needed if government is find a productive balance in this area. Clusters are often conceived as places for the industrialization of cultural products 一 that is, mass production and marketing. The need for innovation is forgotten in the process. There are many visual art clusters
23、that are very much like factories, reproducing extremely outdated products for the lowest end of the art market. This might provide jobs in the short term but simply confirms China as the worlds low value producer. Similar things could be said about traditional crafts, which are extremely repetitive
24、 and are usually only protected by inter-provincial tariffs. These products might inflate the statistics 一according to one report China is third largest exporter of cultural products 一 but they are very misleading； most of the products counted do little to enhance the innovation capacity of the cult
25、ural creative sector. Better understanding and governance of clusters is necessary. Clusters deliver benefits for many but not the entire cultural creative sector. Computer games, for example, does not benefit from clusters because more or less everything is produced in-house in great secrecy. They
26、go to clusters because of tax and rent subsidies, not to be in proximity to others. Visual artists benefit from cheaper rents, the reputation of a cool place and from space to work in quiet； they do not necessarily engage in intensive networking and knowledge transfer. Other project based industries
27、, such as new media, want the networking possibilities provided by clusters, what economists called untraced interdependencies. There are thus different requirements for the different branches, and both the mix of companies and the quality of the space need to be carefully understood. There is real
28、scope for informed government policy here. In general they should look to raise the quality of production as well as developing new audiences and markets. Clusters can have a role in this, but they have to form part of a wider policy strategy. For example, universities are vital to building new huma
29、n capital 一 they have to be encouraged to look to creative skills not just teaching from established models,.Local television stations can be encouraged to pay more for high quality content一 at the moment the purchase is a one size fits all approach which often pays the worst and the best exactly th
30、e same. The design of urban spaces can be enhanced to support the city as a creative milieu. More directly, the cultural creative industries need new creative attitudes and mentalities that take some time to come through； they also demand a range of soft skills associated with project management, brand
