By FANG Zhuoran

More than US$16 billion (100 billion yuan) of cultural goods and services were traded in Shanghai last year, up by 54 percent compared with 2020. Imports increased 76 percent to US$1.1 billion. Exports grew 22 percent to US$5.3 billion. 

Cultural goods present local aesthetic, artistic, historical, industrial, scientific, social or technical elements. They are generally considered important for archaeology, history, literature, art or science and are designated part of cultural heritage.

Gaming, anime and comics have performed exceptionally well. Genshin Impact, published by miHoYo, is now the top grossing and fastest growing mobile game in the world, according to market intelligence service Sensor Tower. Lilith Game’s Warpath grossed US$10 million the first month after its iOS release, making the company the eighth largest game publisher in the world. Yoozoo Games brought in 1.1 billion yuan from overseas markets in the first half of the year. 

Bilibili Comics, launched in April last year, now has 3 million monthly active users overseas. Its anime series Heaven Official’s Blessing is on the Netflix Top 10 in several Southeast Asian countries. Netflix has also confirmed a new season of Scissor Seven, produced by Shanghai-based Aha Entertainment. MangaToon and NovelToon, both owned by Shanghai Ruogu Technology, are now the top two most downloaded comic apps by Chinese developers. 

Local publishers have been creating traditional culture-themed franchises, translating Chinese history books, and organizing events on intellectual property laws. Shanghai nominated Memory Searching of Dances in Talks was awarded the silver medal in Stiftung Buchkunst’s Best Book Design from All Over the World in 2021.

In March, Oriental Pearl Media obtained broadcasting rights for Major League Baseball (MLB) in China and other Asian countries.