On August 18, the CCP CC Propaganda Department held a series of press conferences on the
theme of "This Decade of China". Those invited to speak included Sun Yeli, Deputy Director
of the CCP CC Propaganda Department, Sheng Ronghua, Deputy Director of the Central
Cyberspace Administration of China, and Deputy Director of the State Cyberspace
Administration, Culture and Tourism, Lu Yingchuan, Deputy Minister of the Ministry, and
Meng Dong, Deputy Director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Meng
Dong briefed the gathering on the measures and achievements of publicity and cultural work
in the new era. Chen Wenjun, Director of the External Information Bureau and Press
Spokesperson of the Propaganda moderated the event. The press conference disclosed that the
Propaganda Department had established 2,585 county-level integrated media centres, and that
by the end of 2021 there were 2,542 radio and television broadcasting institutions, 3,215 public
libraries, 3,316 cultural centres, 6,183 museums, more than 40,000 township (street) cultural
stations, and 570,000 village-level comprehensive cultural service centres. There are 580,000 rural bookstores. It said by June 2022, a total of 2,674 counties (cities, districts) across the
country have built the general branch system of cultural centres, and 2,642 counties (cities,
districts) have built libraries and there are more than 450,000 mass cultural teams across the
country, an increase of 50% over 2012.
(Comment: The speeches by the CCP CC Propaganda Department Deputy Director predictably
contained numerous references to Xi Jinping and his initiatives.)
|
