Li Fengliang: Comprehensively Enhancing National Cultural Soft Power Through New Cultural Business Models
Cultural soft power is a vital component of a nation’s comprehensive national strength. As its primary vehicle, the cultural industry directly affects the national image and international discourse power. The Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Outline") proposes improving the cultural management system and production/operation mechanisms, implementing proactive cultural-economic policies, vigorously developing the cultural tourism industry, and empowering economic and social development through culture. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: "In measuring the quality and level of development of the cultural industry, the most important thing is not to look at economic benefits, but rather to see whether it can provide more cultural products that both satisfy the people's cultural needs and enhance their spiritual strength." Accelerating the development of the cultural industry—particularly by using new cultural business formats as a focal point—is of great significance for implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, fulfilling the cultural mission of the New Era, and satisfying the people's ever-growing spiritual and cultural needs. We must anchor ourselves to a new position, identify a new course, and explore new paths to inject strong momentum into the nation's cultural soft power through the comprehensive rise of new cultural business formats and the overall enhancement of new quality productive forces in culture.
Anchoring the New Position of Cultural Industry Development in the New Era
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's cultural industry achieved leapfrog progress in scale, structure, and innovation, laying a solid foundation for high-quality development during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. In February 2026, the National Bureau of Statistics released the Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on the 2025 National Economic and Social Development. In 2025, cultural and related industrial enterprises above a designated size nationwide achieved operating income of 15.2135 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.4%. Among these, 16 industry sub-categories with clear characteristics of new cultural business formats saw revenue growth of 14.3%, indicating that the cultural industry is maintaining rapid growth driven by new formats.
However, shortcomings persist: regional development is unbalanced, with the added value of the cultural industry in the eastern region accounting for approximately 80% of the national total; original creative capacity is insufficient, and international-level cultural IPs remain scarce; industrial chain synergy is lacking, with weak links in derivative development and copyright operations; and the degree of internationalization remains low, as the international market share of content products is still far below that of developed countries such as the United States and Japan.
Global cultural industry development exhibits three major trends: first, the deepening of technology-driven transformation, where AI, virtual reality, and blockchain intervene across the entire chain of creation, production, dissemination, and consumption; second, the acceleration of cross-sector integration, where the boundaries between the cultural industry and fields such as tourism, sports, education, and manufacturing are blurring, making "Culture+" the direction for upgrading; and third, a shift from value competition to IP competition. Companies like Disney and Marvel achieve value multiplication through full-industrial-chain operations, making emotional resonance and value identification the core competencies of cultural content.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China's cultural industry must break its path-dependency on scale expansion and pivot toward high-quality development, treating the cultivation of new cultural business formats as the key breakthrough point for enhancing national cultural soft power. With their innovative, integrative, and pervasive nature, new cultural formats can transform fine traditional Chinese culture, revolutionary culture, and advanced socialist culture into perceptible, experiential, and communicable modern products. This will satisfy the people’s needs for a better life while strengthening cultural identity and firming up cultural confidence. Therefore, reappraising the value of new cultural formats is not only an economic proposition but also a political and cultural one; it is an inevitable requirement for fulfilling the new cultural mission of the New Era.
Identifying the New Course for Cultural Industry Development
Currently, the competitive logic of the global cultural industry has shifted from the export of single products to comprehensive competition centered on technology, industrial ecosystems, and value identification. To gain an advantage in this landscape, China must apply precise force in three directions.
First, persist in technological empowerment to promote the leap from "Culture + Technology" to "Culture × Technology." The "Outline" proposes to transform and upgrade traditional cultural formats, promote the integration of culture and technology, and drive digital-intelligent empowerment and the informational transformation of cultural construction. We must deeply understand the vital role of new technologies, materials, and processes in driving the innovative development of the cultural industry. We must push "Culture + Technology" toward "Culture × Technology," moving from physical reaction to chemical reaction, letting culture take flight on the wings of technology to produce more competitive cultural products and provide high-quality cultural supply. Today, technology is not just an accelerator of production efficiency, but a reconstructor of aesthetic paradigms and narrative logic. New-generation internet technologies, AI, and big data have changed cultural production methods and created new intelligent cultures. Henan TV’s "Chinese Festivals" series used AR and VR to reconstruct traditional festival imagery; Night Banquet in Tang Dynasty Palace and The Goddess of the Luo River both exceeded 1 billion views across the network. The "Digital Forbidden City" (Gugong) mini-program has further bridged the distance with the public. Technology lowers the threshold for cultural expression, while culture endows technology with meaning; together, they shape new cultural experiences. In the future, we should further promote AI-assisted creation, virtual reality performances, and blockchain copyright protection to simultaneously upgrade cultural products in terms of sensory experience and rights protection.
Second, promote integrated development and build a "Culture+" industrial ecosystem. Entering the "15th Five-Year Plan," China's cultural industry has entered a new stage where the high-quality development of the "humanistic economy" has become a major trend. From creative industries to the creative economy and then to a creative society, culture and creativity are deeply saturating every social and economic field. The essence of "Culture+" is to achieve industrial chain extension and value chain enhancement through value implantation. The "Village Super League" [1] deeply integrates sports matches with local culture—a typical example of "scene-empowered integration." Sports activities provide high-frequency foot traffic and cultural contact points, while local cultural elements provide uniqueness and differentiation, resulting in dual economic and cultural benefits. During the "15th Five-Year Plan," we must further break down boundaries, promote the deep integration of culture, tourism, sports, and commerce, and systematically cultivate composite business formats such as "culture + technology + tourism" and "culture + education + study tours," building nested ecosystems.
Third, achieve value transmission and create cultural IPs with global influence. The pinnacle of the cultural industry is value transmission. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out the need to "tell China's stories well and make China's voice heard." Undoubtedly, IP is the "greatest common denominator" of emotion that shifts across language and market barriers. During the "15th Five-Year Plan," we must remain firm in cultural confidence, understand the laws of cultural communication, and use interesting and profound cultural IPs to promote the creative transformation and innovative development of fine traditional Chinese culture [2]. We must tell the stories of China and Chinese culture well. Ne Zha 2 (Ne Zha: Transformers of the Deep Sea) [3] set television and film records, becoming a new benchmark for the "China Chic" going global. It effectively promoted a modern and vigorous expression of Chinese culture and stands as a successful model of the "light cavalry" of cultural soft power. The success of such works stems from a triple coupling of values: the depth of history and culture, compatibility with contemporary aesthetics, and the affinity of international expression. In recent years, Chinese digital cultural products represented by online literature, online games, and online dramas have emerged suddenly, vividly described by the industry as the "New Three Items" [4] of digital culture going global. Transforming local cultural resources into symbolic assets that can circulate globally—achieving cross-cultural acceptance through emotional resonance and value identification—has become an important direction for the global transformation of Chinese cultural capital.
Exploring New Paths for the Innovative Development of the Cultural Industry
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, we should focus on three dimensions—business formats, entities, and momentum—to further promote the innovative development of our cultural industry.
First, cultivate new cultural business formats to seize the commanding heights of the future. Cultural digitalization is not just a technological application; it is a reshaping of the relations of production. The digital animation Deep Sea utilized self-developed "particle ink" technology to achieve 8K-level visual performance. Its success lies in using technology to create a unique aesthetic language, forming a differentiated competitive edge. During the "15th Five-Year Plan," we should accelerate the development of new cultural formats such as digital animation, immersive exhibitions, online streaming, short videos, and micro-dramas. We must guide the healthy development of online literature, games, and audiovisual content, using technological innovation as a means, immersion and interaction as the core experience, and high-value-added consumption as the goal to continuously create new product forms and consumption scenarios.
Second, build "cultural aircraft carriers" to enhance concentration and competitiveness. Global competition in the cultural industry increasingly relies on the comprehensive operational capabilities of large flagship enterprises. The "Outline" suggests implementing a strategy where major cultural industry projects lead the way to expand the supply of high-quality cultural products. We should learn from the experience of developed countries in accelerating cultural industry development, promoting the organic combination of an "efficient market" and a "promising government." We must continuously improve the socialist cultural industry and market systems to spawn a group of "cultural aircraft carriers" in fields such as digital creativity, film and animation, news and publishing, cultural equipment, and cultural tourism. We must enrich the supply of high-quality tourism products, tap deep into characteristic resources and cultural connotations, and actively promote the integrated development of multiple business formats. At the same time, drawing on the models of Disney and Shueisha, we must continuously create and operate major IPs, cultivate leading enterprises with control over the entire industrial chain, and encourage "cultural aircraft carrier" enterprises to provide brand, technology, and channel support while SMEs focus on niche content creation, forming a synergistic network.
Third, stimulate new cultural momentum and release innovative vitality. Cultural innovation requires the coordinated drive of elements such as technology, talent, capital, and data to create new cultural consumption scenarios and foster a healthy cultural ecosystem. We must adhere to the "Two Serves" direction [5], the "Double Hundred" policy [6], and the "Two Creations" principle [7]. We should actively support the development of new mass literature and art to stimulate the cultural innovation and creative vitality of the entire society. We must further emancipate the mind, deepen institutional reforms in the cultural field, clear the "bottlenecks" and "pain points" in cultivating new quality productive forces in culture, and accelerate the construction of a cultural innovation ecosystem with complete elements, full momentum, and multi-dimensional coordination. This will achieve the efficient flow of cultural resources and value co-creation, comprehensively enhancing national cultural soft power and the influence of Chinese culture.
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical stage for comprehensively building a modern socialist country and a period of intensive transformation and upgrading for the cultural industry. Enhancing national cultural soft power through new cultural business formats is an inevitable choice to comply with global trends and serve the overall goal of national rejuvenation. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Culture, we must anchor ourselves to high-quality development, strengthen momentum through technological empowerment, expand boundaries through integrated development, and manifest confidence through value transmission. By cultivating new formats, building new "aircraft carriers," and stimulating new momentum, we will construct a cultural industry system commensurate with our status as a major power, allowing Chinese culture to move toward the world with a vivid posture and injecting majestic spiritual strength into the building of a strong country and national rejuvenation.
(The author is the Party Committee Secretary and Professor at South China Agricultural University) Source: China Social Science Daily (March 20, 2026) Editor: Huihui