BEIJING - A Chinese company bought the White House? No, it's not in Washington DC, but in Branson, Missouri.
Last December the Beijing-based China Heaven Creation International Performing Arts Company purchased the White House Theater in Branson, a small town in the US Midwest and a popular destination for American vacationers.
The theater opened on July 1 with a show titled Chun Yi: The Legend of Kungfu, which still regularly runs.
It is a small example of Chinese culture going international but there could be many more to come.
China Heaven Creation is one of the 211 companies listed by the Ministry of Culture as key export-oriented culture enterprises.
Other fronts where progress has been made in introducing Chinese culture overseas are film and TV exports, said Zhao Shi, vice-minister of the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT), at a news conference on Thursday.
The volume of these exports and related services hit $86.13 million last year, and the overseas revenue generated by Chinese films exceeded $400 million. Both figures marked increases on previous years, she said.
Other officials present at the briefing were: Sun Zhijun, deputy chief of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Ouyang Jian, vice-minister of culture, and Jiang Jianguo, deputy chief of the General Administration of Press and Publication.
In 2009, SARFT hosted 99 Chinese film festivals in 47 foreign countries as well as in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, during which 647 domestic films were screened.
On top of this, 315 Chinese mainland films participated in 119 international film festivals, among which 68 won 80 awards in 26 festivals, according to official figures. China Daily
