In contrast to most other countries who have chosen to adopt the terminology
‘creative industries’ – from the ‘Mapping Document’ issued by the UK government’s Department of Culture, Media and Sports – the Chinese government prefers the term ‘cultural industries’, emphasizing ‘culture,’ or wenhua, over ‘creativity’. The mission to develop cultural industries is necessarily for the enhancement of Chinese culture. Its ultimate goal is not only to resist the consumption and dominance of Hollywood or Western culture in the domestic market, but to export its own cultural products overseas and spread its influence. Thus put in terms of political economy, cultural industries in China can be understood as a combination of cultural nationalism and a form of nascent cultural imperialism.