The creative industries came to mainland China in late 2004. With its UK credentials
apparent to all, this nouveau arrivé in the development stakes was championed by
Professor Li Wuwei, an economist within the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
As China’s business powerhouse, Shanghai maintains a closer association with
developments in the southern metropolis of Hong Kong than Beijing. The year prior
to Shanghai’s reception of creative industries the Creative Industries Baseline Study
had been published by the University of Hong Kong Cultural Policy Unit (CCPR
2003). This influential document largely facilitated an emerging discourse of cultural
development in China, including the term chuangyi chanye, which would become the
popular translation for creative industries.