China isn't known as an epicenter of creative industry, but today, the "factory of the world" is building an increasingly innovative "workshop of ideas".

Though creative industry is growing by leaps and bounds globally - faster than the general world economy - in China, it's bunny-hopping several steps behind pace. But many experts monitoring the industry believe this could soon become another tortoise-and-hare story of China's developmental legacy.

"The slogan 'from made-in-China to created-in-China' is a very powerful one," says Michael Keane, senior research fellow with Brisbane-based Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation.

"A 1 percent increase in creative capital is probably worth more than a 5 percent increase in manufacturing productivity, because creativity entails greater innovation, which ultimately spills over into the general economy."

The author of the forthcoming book, Created in China: The Great New Leap Forward, believes China is now moving out of the "mid-stage" of the "creative ecology" - a phase in which "copycatting" dominates design.

"China is moving from outsourcing for others, from imitation of others, to engagement with international and regional partners through joint ventures, co-productions and franchise agreements," he says. The turning point began in 2005, when Chinese scholars started discussing the development of creative industry with international counterparts at a series of conferences and forums.

A creativity and design studio in Dashanzi Art District (originally 798 Factory). The studio is the heart of Beijing's increasingly visible art and culture community. More such facilities are springing up across the country, reflecting the shifting emphasis on creativity and innovation. Lu Zhongqiu

That led to the second turning point in 2006, when many municipal and local governments addressed the need for the development of creative industry while drafting their 11th Five-Year plans, Keane says. At the same time, manufacturing - especially on the low end of the value chain - began an inland retreat.

"The big cities are trying to become cleaner and greener. They are hoping that the high-value design, advertising, tourism and new media industries will deliver sustainability without pollution. Already, the indications of change are manifest."

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Shanghai actress Ai Wan - identified as a "leader of the new rising creative class in Beijing" by Outlook Magazine - believes the creative sector has a bright future. "With so many of us in this generation developing creative initiatives, and setting and attaining goals, China is bound to become one of the most prosperous and creative countries," she says.

In April, Ai organized the Creative Class Party, which brought together about 700 industry leaders under the roof of her China Doll nightclub in Beijing to "meet, network and party". She hopes the event would create opportunities for exchange in a more creatively stimulating setting than a traditional convention hall.

"Cross-field communication among the elite of these industries could generate good ideas and provide inspiration." Ai says she came to Beijing after 15 years in Hollywood because of the opportunities offered by China's "creative renaissance".

Ai, who has acted in such blockbusters as Rush Hour and Death Becomes Her, was fed up with the stereotype roles available to Asian actresses in the US. So she left her home with a balcony view of the Hollywood sign to try her hand at more creative endeavors back home. Within three years, she reinvented herself into a writer, film producer, interior designer for Epic Design, host of China's International Fashion Week and culture columnist for Modern Weekly.

"In China, I found that I had more opportunities to do my favorite things and to do creative work based on traditional culture combined with more modernized elements and perspectives, instead of being an actress like I was in the US. I think all of us learning and living in China are actively influencing the country besides the top 500 multinational corporations on the mainland."

Most insiders agree the foreign media has been the greatest influence on China's creative industry during its "copycat" phase. "It's more than normal that creative industry is influenced by foreign companies - especially European and US enterprises," says Modern Media's premier scriptwriter Li Mengxia.

"But it is during this process of copying that true Chinese creativity is developing Hopefully we will see more Chinese artists doing new, ground-breaking creative work that people everywhere can learn from," Li says.

International influence has been two-tiered, according to Terry Flew, head of Postgraduate Studies in Queensland University of Technology's Creative Industries. The first is the general influence of the dominant Western - mostly US - models in terms of product style and targeting audiences. And then there are Asian countries, which have a powerful pan-Asian appeal, he says.

"Western cultural products have shallow roots among Chinese, whereas East Asian products are more likely to flourish because they are culturally similar, with shared history of thousands of years and codes of representation, styles of expression that are less individualistic and more holistic, and an intermingling of stars and producers."

Wang Zhidong, founder of China's largest web portal Sina.com and CEO of Beijing Dianji Technology, says the IT industry was perhaps the first sector in China to start moving beyond foreign influence.

"The IT industry has been the most rapidly and thoroughly globalized industry because it was influenced by the international IT industry." This came about through a process of purchasing, simulating, reconstructing, localizing and innovating upon foreign IT products, he explains.

But Keane warns that even though "in China, Internet-based digital content industries are leading the way, there's no guarantee of a golden future".

Many Chinese and outside observers agree that the country's education system could become one of the greatest obstacles to the development of the country's creative industry. "The test-oriented education system is the killer," says eminent photographer Chen Man.

With the economic miracle continuing, China should do something to foster creative industry in order to sustain its development, Chen says. "Creative industry grows along with a society's economy. China's economy is growing at an incredible rate, so too is the need for creativity."

(China Daily 07/12/2007 page12)