BEIJING - The Chinese cultural industry saw rapid growth in the first half of 2016, with combined revenue up 7.9 percent year on year to 3.62 trillion yuan ($544 billion), new data showed Friday.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) tracks some 48,000 companies in 10 sectors of the cultural industry, including six sectors engaged in cultural services and four in manufacturing of cultural products.

The cultural service sector saw faster growth than manufacturing, with revenue of information transmission services surging the most by 29.7 percent, the NBS said in the statement.

The cultural and artistic service sector saw revenue rise by 19.8 percent, and revenue of recreation and entertainment services companies rose 17.8 percent.

The more developed eastern regions contributed 75 percent of the total cultural revenue in the first half, slightly up from a share of 74.9 percent in the first quarter.