Think tank report highlights value of China’s new popular literature, art

What the report says

A think tank report released in Shenzhen has argued that China’s new popular literature and art are becoming an important part of the country’s cultural expression in the internet and AI era. The report, titled “The Flourishing Development and Global Influence of New Popular Literature and Art,” was issued by the National High-Level Think Tank of Xinhua News Agency during an international symposium in southern China’s Guangdong Province, according to The Independent Uganda’s published text based on Xinhua material.

The report describes this emerging cultural field as a mixed ecosystem shaped by technology, especially the internet, big data and artificial intelligence, and says it involves wide public participation in creation, sharing and distribution. It presents these works as rooted in everyday life and responsive to audience tastes, while also reflecting Chinese themes and aesthetics in global cultural exchange.

The symposium was held under the theme of strengthening cultural subjectivity in support of Chinese modernization and brought together about 130 experts, scholars and guests from China and abroad. Officials and Xinhua leaders used the event to emphasize cultural confidence, international exchange and new forms of communication. More broadly, the report says these cultural forms can help present China in its own voice and contribute to a fairer global cultural order. As a general background matter, such discussions fit into a wider Chinese policy emphasis on cultural influence and soft power.