A Manifestation of an Alignment between Culture and Economy
Cultural and creative parks are a government-endorsed program recently proliferating in Mainland, China, notably across municipalities, tier-1 and tier-2 cities. For instance, Beijing has a vast art district called 798, hosting artworks of Andy Warhol, Vincent van Gogh or Oscar-Claude Monet once in a while; and in Shenzhen, local residents can visit OCT LOFT Creative Cultural Park to access a variety of cultural activities, such as art exhibits and fashion shows. See the images below. The figure 1 is shows graffiti at 798, and the figure 2 is a snapshot of wall painting art at OCT LOFT. These sites disseminate a strong cultural vibe that equips visitors with an artistic sensation. In conjunction with Week 4’s lecture, this blog asserts that creative and cultural parks serve as policy tools deployed to reinforce China’s cultural infrastructure, and compensate economic growth by incentivising young Chinese people’s proactive engagement in cultural consumption.
The demand for cultural products has been increasing in recent years, manifested in young Generation-Zers’ pursuit of an urban lifestyle; quintessentially, taking a picture at an art gallery with ‘dark academia’ dresses, attending a short painting or cooking session, or reading a book with a delicate cup of Blue Mountain aside are trending on Red Book, a Chinese mobile app similar to Instagram. In response to cultural demand and an emerging sociocultural trend, a series of government initiatives has been implemented with a view to improving and enriching cultural products/services available for young community members. In many cities, cultural and creative park has been an integral part of urban planning, demonstrating local authorities’ deliberation of invigorating cultural communication and production. According to a case study by Yuan, thanks to government policies and funding, some parks have become landmark tourism sites of respective cities. Founded in 2011, Shenzhen’s OCT LOFT “has experienced a ‘sustainable’ development history and then became a recognized typical case”; the site admits over 200 visiting groups each year since 2007. Reconstructing western factories has been proved an effective strategy in reinforcing these parks’ appeal to young people (See Figure 3).
Generation-Z members’ passion towards cultural products or services can be explained through Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy. Born in a resourceful environment, these young people have no concerns about basic material needs, typically foods, beverages and shelters. Adequate material supplies imply that only by addressing spiritual needs can young Chinese be fulfilled; hence a skyrocketing demand for cultural products, along with an opportunity for governments to marketize cultural industries. Through the lens economics, the advent of cultural and creative parks spurs economic growth through generating new economic activities, creating work positions, and encouraging consumer spending — all of which translates the effectiveness of government initiatives/policies in aligning cultural production with economic expansion. This offers an invaluable implication to other countries where policymakers may consider introducing cultural products/services appropriate to national contexts.
