Government Project To Bridge the Cultural Gap Between City and Countryside

2006-12-07 14:04:03 CRIENGLISH.com

There's no denying there is still a gap between urban and rural areas in China in terms of both economic development levels and consumption power. A cultural disparity also exists due to economic imbalances. While the government tries to address the economic gap, it is also trying to bridge the cultural divide between urban and rural areas with various programs. The National Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project is one of the projects that aim to improve the cultural information flow between urban areas and the countryside and enrich rural cultural life with the help of modern digital technology. Four years after its initiation, our reporter checks out the latest developments.

Fork Way Town is in a remote region in southwestern China's Guizhou province. Two years ago, a local service center was set up in the town to facilitate the implementation of the National Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project initiated by the Ministries of Culture and Finance and a few other government departments. The goal is to disseminate the latest cultural information at the most grassroots level. The center is equipped with a computer, a film projector and many digitized information materials. The center is now the favorite hangout for local residents.
Luo Gang, head of the center, introduces the function of his center.

"This center serves as the axis. From here, it transmits digital information to the whole town, covering a rural population of 30,000. If any village or particular villager needs our help, we'll provide them with visiting services. We'll visit their yards with our computers and provide information services to them, including screening and explaining farming technologies to them, as well as agricultural and breeding techniques. Our service is very popular with the villagers."

There are now more than 6,000 similar service centers all over the country as part of the National Cultural Resource Information Sharing Project. There's also a national center in addition to 32 provincial centers making up the basic service networks under the project.

Launched in 2002, the Cultural Resources Information Sharing project utilizes high technology to digitize and categorize cultural resources in public libraries, museums, art galleries, art groups and research centers across the country. Unlike free downloads from the Internet, where one can have a glimpse of everything, but never to the full extent due to copyright issues, information on the project is not subject to such rules. In other words, you can always get a complete version on a subject included in the project, be it special technology, a movie, or a novel. This information is disseminated through the Internet, satellite and VCDs.

A recent survey shows the utilization of Chinese cultural resources is still unsatisfactory. On average, around 460,000 people now share one library and only 3 percent of the population have the opportunity as well as the financial means to go to the theater. Only 6 percent visit museums.

Zhou Heping, deputy cultural Minister and vice-director of the project, says the above situation will change after the full implementation of the project.

"Our cultural development hasn’t been able to fully keep pace with our economic development. The developmental imbalance in different regions also hinders the sharing of cultural information in the country. The public, especially those living in remote and poverty-stricken areas, still have no easy access to books or films. The cultural resource sharing project will help disseminate culture at the grassroots level and serve as an impetus to our cultural creativity and development in the new century."

Zhang Yanbo is the head of the project's national service center. He says the project has been carried out pretty well nationwide thanks to the fast spread of Internet and cable TV from cities to rural areas in recent years. These two networks are important channels for the project.

"To give you an example, such networks cover every community in Shanghai. Through these networks, we transmit our cultural resources, such as digital books, to every single member of the community to meet their needs. Similarly, because we have a project to ensure radio and TV networks reaches every village in the country and because we also have the cooperation of digital TV and cable TV networks, over 800,000 residents in eastern cities such as Qingdao and Foshan can see all we have in our cultural information sharing project."

Beside advanced digital technology, the project's smooth implementation also has the digitization of a vast number of Chinese libraries, museums and cultural centers and art organizations to thank. They have accumulated many digital cultural resources.

Zhang Yanbo talks about future plans for the project.

"We have set a goal that by 2010, we will make our project reach all counties and towns nationwide. At the village level, we want our project to cover half of the 600,000 to 700,000 villages nationwide."

Zhang Yanbo says the National Cultural Information Resource Sharing Project provides a new culture-spreading channel beyond the limitation of time and space. The project will enrich the general public's cultural life in urban areas and curb the scale of the lack of information and backwardness of economy and culture in less developed areas.

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