Circular of the General Office of the State Council on Issuing Several Economic Policies for Promoting High - quality Development of Culture

Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Issuing Several Economic Policies for Promoting High - quality Cultural Development

Document No. 4 [2025] of the General Office of the State Council

People's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government; all ministries and commissions of the State Council and all directly - affiliated institutions:

The "Several Economic Policies for Promoting High - quality Cultural Development" formulated by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee in conjunction with relevant departments such as the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the People's Bank of China, the State Taxation Administration, and the National Radio and Television Administration have been approved by the State Council. They are hereby issued to you. Please earnestly implement them.

General Office of the State Council

January 20, 2025

(This document is publicly released)

Several Economic Policies for Promoting High - quality Cultural Development

In order to fully implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee, thoroughly implement Xi Jinping's cultural ideology, further deepen the reform of the cultural system and mechanism, and promote high - quality cultural development, the following policies are formulated.

I. Regarding Financial Support

(1) Establish and improve a financial investment mechanism that is compatible with the construction of a cultural powerhouse and the national financial resources, and improve the diversified investment mechanism to ensure the expenditure on key cultural plans and projects. Improve the management mode of the use of financial funds, strengthen the guiding role of financial funds in optimizing the supply of cultural services and cultural products, and effectively mobilize social forces to participate in cultural construction. Deepen the reform of the division of financial powers and expenditure responsibilities in the field of public culture. Make overall use of the central government's transfer payment funds for the cultural field in local areas, tilt towards rural areas, old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and underdeveloped areas, and promote the balanced allocation of urban and rural cultural resources and the direct access of high - quality cultural resources to the grass - roots level.

(2) Support the research on the Party's innovative theories, promote the construction of an independent knowledge system of Chinese philosophy and social sciences, innovate the project of Marxist theory research and construction, and implement the innovation project of philosophy and social sciences. Improve the original cultural creativity, and focus on supporting the creation of high - quality works in the fields of literature, art, news, publishing, film and television, animation, etc. Encourage the layout of cultural facilities according to local conditions, and build world - class libraries, museums, art galleries, and science and technology museums with Chinese characteristics. Encourage localities with conditions to introduce incentive policies for providing extended and staggered - time services for free - open public cultural facilities, and improve the barrier - free and age - friendly degree of public cultural facilities. Increase the provision of public cultural services for minors and other groups, and guide and support mass cultural activities and competitions. Promote the improvement of the construction and development mechanism of state - owned art troupes. Encourage social forces to participate in public cultural services and the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage through government procurement of services and other means. Support the construction of all - media and cultural cloud platforms, support the construction of a work mechanism and evaluation system suitable for all - media production and dissemination, promote the systematic transformation of mainstream media, increase support for the creation and production of ultra - high - definition programs, channel construction, and transmission services, promote the optimization and upgrading of the entire ultra - high - definition end - to - end industrial chain, continue to promote the integration of cable TV networks, and build a new type of radio and television network. Support the systematic protection and rational use of areas rich in cultural relic resources, cultural relics, and intangible cultural heritages, promote the overall protection and dynamic inheritance of famous historical and cultural cities, historical and cultural blocks, villages and towns, and traditional villages, and support the construction of a disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief system and a safety monitoring system for cultural heritage. Support the construction and cooperation of overseas cultural institutions, support international exchanges and cooperation and international development assistance in the field of cultural heritage, support the construction and development of national - level cultural trade bases for foreign cooperation, accelerate the cultivation of key cultural export enterprises with international competitiveness, and promote the "going global" of cultural enterprises, products, and services.

(3) Before the end of 2027, the central finance will continue to allocate special funds for the development of the cultural industry, innovate the investment methods, promote the implementation of major cultural industry projects, and promote the high - quality development of the cultural industry. Support state - owned cultural enterprises to implement the national cultural development strategy through channels such as the central state - owned capital operating budget. With the approval of the provincial people's government, key provincial - level cultural enterprises can be exempted from paying state - owned capital gains before the end of 2027.

II. Regarding Tax Incentives

(4) Implement the preferential policies stipulated in documents such as the "Announcement on Continuing and Implementing the Value - added Tax Incentive Policies for Publicity and Culture" (Announcement No. 60 [2023] of the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration), the "Announcement on Continuing and Implementing the Value - added Tax Policies to Support the Development of Cultural Enterprises" (Announcement No. 61 [2023] of the Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration), and the "Announcement on Continuing and Implementing the Relevant Tax Policies for the Transformation of For - profit Cultural Institutions into Enterprises in the Process of Cultural System Reform" (Announcement No. 71 [2023] of the Ministry of Finance, the State Taxation Administration, and the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee).

(5) For for - profit cultural institutions that were transformed into enterprises before December 31, 2022, they will be exempted from enterprise income tax from the date of registration of the transformation to December 31, 2027; for cultural institutions that were funded by the financial department and were transformed into enterprises before December 31, 2022, their self - used real estate will be exempted from property tax from the date of registration of the transformation to December 31, 2027.

III. Regarding Financial Services

(6) Encourage banking financial institutions to further enhance the financial support and service level for cultural enterprises. Give full play to the reform effectiveness and guiding role of the loan prime rate, and keep the comprehensive financing cost of cultural enterprises at a reasonable level. Support banking financial institutions to explore and improve the credit risk management mechanism for cultural enterprises, optimize the credit management system for cultural enterprises, and encourage banking financial institutions to explore and carry out relevant financial services around the protection of cultural heritage. Improve the facilitation level of overseas cultural investment, and provide high - quality cross - border settlement services for cultural trade enterprises. Encourage insurance institutions to carry out insurance business for cultural institutions, and provide insurance products and services in the fields of intellectual property, film and television works, stage art, and cultural heritage.

(7) Support eligible cultural enterprises to be listed and refinanced on the main board, growth enterprise market, science and technology innovation board, Beijing Stock Exchange, etc. Support eligible cultural enterprises to issue bonds for financing. Support eligible tourism infrastructure projects to issue real estate investment trust funds in the infrastructure field. Give better play to the role of government investment funds, and encourage social capital to invest in the cultural industry in accordance with laws and regulations.

(8) Improve the system of confirmation, registration, trusteeship, investment, circulation, and disposal of intangible assets of cultural enterprises, improve the models of mortgage and pledge loans of intangible assets, and innovate financial products and services. Improve the copyright registration system, optimize the copyright pledge registration process, and improve the facilitation level of copyright financing services.

IV. Regarding Technological Innovation

(9) Explore an effective mechanism for the integration of culture and technology, support the use of Internet thinking and information technology to improve the cultural creation and production process, and promote the digital empowerment and information - based transformation of cultural construction. Further increase the support for cultural and technological innovation in national and local science and technology development plans, support the cultivation and construction of national key laboratories in the fields of news media and cultural heritage, support the cultivation and construction of national technological innovation centers in the cultural field, study the establishment of key special projects related to culture and technology in the national key research and development plan, and strengthen the research and development of common key technologies and system integration around major needs. Study and formulate the outline of the national cultural and technological innovation project. Support the development of enterprises and parks integrating culture and technology, and accelerate the layout of cultural and technological innovation platforms. Improve the cultural and technological innovation service system, and accelerate the transformation of cultural and technological innovation achievements. Improve the recognition standards for high - tech enterprises in the cultural field. Promote the standardization of cultural data, and encourage cultural enterprises and institutions to develop and utilize cultural data resources. Support capable private enterprises to take the lead in undertaking major national technological research tasks in the cultural field. Strengthen the construction of cultural digital infrastructure, and build a cultural data service platform. Build a high - quality data set for artificial intelligence in the cultural field, and support the construction of large models in the cultural field. Improve the digital level of cultural trade, and strengthen the construction and international development of digital cultural content.

V. Regarding Land Use Guarantee

(10) Guarantee the reasonable land use needs of cultural enterprises in accordance with laws and regulations. For the original allocated land involved in the transformation of for - profit cultural institutions, if it meets the "Catalogue of Allocated Land Uses" after the transformation, it can continue to be used in the form of allocation; if it does not meet the "Catalogue of Allocated Land Uses", it shall be used on a paid basis in accordance with the law. With the approval of the people's government at or above the provincial level, for for - profit cultural institutions that are transformed into wholly state - owned or state - holding enterprises, the original allocated land for production and operation can, upon approval, be allocated in the form of capital contribution (shareholding). Explore a land use management mechanism that meets the protection requirements of ancient ruins, ancient tombs, cultural relic buildings, historical and cultural blocks, villages and towns, and traditional villages.

VI. Regarding Income Distribution

(11) Implement the performance - based salary policy for public institutions, reasonably approve the total amount of performance - based salaries for cultural public institutions, and implement the autonomy of internal distribution. Improve the internal distribution system, and tilt the performance - based salary towards business backbones, those who have made outstanding achievements, front - line staff, key positions, and special positions. Implement the salary distribution incentive policy for high - level talents in public institutions, and allow high - level talents who meet relevant regulations to adopt distribution methods such as negotiated salary, project - based salary, and annual salary system. The required total amount of performance - based salary shall be listed separately in the total amount of performance - based salary of the unit and be made public in the unit in an appropriate manner.

(12) For wholly state - owned and state - holding cultural enterprises with obvious cyclical characteristics in the industry, large fluctuations in economic benefits between years, obvious phased characteristics of the input - output period, or other special circumstances, with the consent of the competent department, the total wage budget can be managed on a cyclical basis, with a maximum cycle of no more than three years. For enterprises undertaking major national cultural activities (projects), they can be separately classified for accounting and assessment upon recognition. Support state - owned cultural enterprises to comprehensively use medium - and long - term incentive policies such as equity incentives, employee shareholding, and project follow - on investment in accordance with relevant regulations, and stimulate vitality and improve efficiency with value creation as the orientation.

VII. Regarding Support for Transformed Enterprises

(13) Transformed cultural enterprises shall participate in social insurance in accordance with the enterprise method. The continuous service years of on - the - job employees at the time of transformation that meet the national regulations shall be recognized as the years of deemed payment, and there is no need to make up the basic endowment insurance premiums. Support transformed cultural enterprises to establish enterprise annuities in accordance with regulations to improve the post - retirement income level of employees.

(14) The medical security for the retired employees of transformed cultural enterprises shall continue to implement the current measures, or they can be included in the separate overall planning of medical expenses for retired employees in accordance with the relevant regulations of the local overall planning area, and the required funds shall be solved through the original channels; among the employees who retired before the transformation and originally enjoyed free medical care, on the basis of participating in the basic medical insurance of the local overall planning area in accordance with regulations, they can refer to the medical subsidy method for national civil servants and implement medical subsidies.

(15) The part of the housing provident fund and housing subsidies of employees within the original institutional establishment that is borne by the finance shall continue to be allocated by the finance department in the budget after the transformation; for the housing subsidies of retired employees whose personnel expenses were borne by the finance before the transformation and have not been solved, they shall be allocated in one - time by the finance department at the time of transformation; the original normal institutional funds shall continue to be allocated after the transformation.

VIII. Regarding Organization and Implementation

(16) The Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, in conjunction with relevant departments such as the Cyberspace Administration of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Housing and Urban - Rural Development, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the People's Bank of China, the State Taxation Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the National Radio and Television Administration, and the National Cultural Heritage Administration, shall further strengthen cooperation and form a joint force to promote high - quality cultural development. All regions and relevant departments shall, in combination with the actual work, further压实责任, improve policies, and promote the implementation of various measures to achieve tangible results.

(Source: The State Council)