A foreign businessman inspects artificial flowers at a recent trade fair in Guangzhou.XU JIANMEI / FOR CHINA DAILY

The thirteenth Five-Year Plan (2016-20) has positioned cultural industries as a key pillar of the national economy.

That is in tune with the recent rapid growth in China's cultural exports, which began in 2009. Within one year, the country overtook the US as the market leader, according to a UNESCO report in March.

Emerging markets like Turkey, India and Malaysia have also emerged as leading exporters of cultural goods.

The US remains the top importer of cultural goods, followed by other advanced economies.

While cultural trade between developed countries has remained strong, that between emerging markets has stayed weak, the report said.

"China lacks major cultural enterprises with brand impact and original designs. A large part of exports of cultural products comes from processing trades, without much independent research and development," said Lu Jinyong, director of the China Research Center for Foreign Direct Investment at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

"Although the number of domestic cultural companies rose in recent years, the market penetration level is low. This also shows a large gap between China and developed countries. So, you could say China has significant potential for growth."