CHANGSHA/TAIPEI, July 13 (Xinhua) -- With announcements Saturday on new measures by the mainland to boost cross-Straits cultural and educational exchange and cooperation, scholars and experts from both sides say related industries -- especially companies of Taiwan -- will have more opportunities for development.
Mainland culture authority announced that it is working out preferential policy targeting Taiwan's performing arts circles, which encourages Taiwan insiders to set up joint, cooperative or solely-funded ventures to operate performance venues on the mainland.
Taiwan's performing arts brokerage companies will also be allowed to set up branches on the Chinese mainland, Culture Minister Cai Wu said Saturday in an interview on the sidelines of the fifth Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Culture Forum held in Changsha, central Hunan Province, over the weekend.
As Taiwan's economy was experiencing a downturn under the influence of the global financial crisis, local companies are all reducing their sponsorship for cultural activities, making the island's "already small" culture market further shrink, said Xiao Xiayong, deputy secretary of the China Friendship Association of Cultural Circles.
"The mainland's upcoming policy is a concrete step the mainland takes to push forward cross-Straits cultural exchange toward the right direction ...it adds more substantial contents to cultural exchange between the two sides and provide larger development room for exchange," Xiao told Xinhua Sunday.
In 2008, Taiwan listed television, films and pop music among the major plans for the island's cultural development. Xiao said the success of their plans will largely rely on the industry's expansion in the mainland's market.
According to the Ministry of Education, Taiwan students who have top-notch results in Taiwan college entrance examinations can also apply to mainland universities.
They will be recruited after passing oral quiz organized by mainland universities.
Zhang Baorong, assistant professor with the Xiamen University, said the policy provided great convenience for Taiwan students who want to study on the mainland.
"As Taiwan students are already allowed to work in the mainland after graduating from a mainland university, now there's nothing in the way for a Taiwan student's study and development on the mainland," Zhang said.
However, Zhang pointed out that currently Taiwan was still "relatively conservative" on the issue of cross-Straits educational exchange and the island didn't recognize the mainland's degrees yet.
Zhang said, "hopefully the mainland's policy will promote Taiwan to act more positively and create a more ease environment for cross-Straits educational exchange."
In addition, Taiwan cable TV network will be allowed to provide consultation services relating to cable TV equipment and relevant technologies in east China's Fujian Province.
Liu Lee-hsen, associate professor from the "National Taiwan Normal University", said, "cable TV companies in Taiwan will benefit from a hardware and technology market that is already very large, and the (mainland) policy is expected to cover more provinces on the mainland".
The mainland authority is also mulling a policy to encourage Taiwan film makers, after getting approval, to jointly shoot films with their mainland counterparts, build or expand cinemas, or distribute mainland films. The policy is expected to be issued at a proper time, according mainland authority.
"Under the policy, Taiwan's filmmakers will step up their development in the mainland market and promote Chinese language films to the world market together with their mainland counterparts," Liu said.
General Administration of Press and Publication of China has decided to open cities of Beijing and Shanghai, and provinces of Fujian, Jiangsu and Zhejiang on the mainland as experimental regions for cross-Straits exchanges in the publishing sector, encouraging publishing sectors from both sides of the Taiwan Straits to cooperate in publication of scientific and technological journals through book copyright trade.
Taiwan publishing enterprises are welcome to invest and settle down in mainland's press and publication industrial zones or bases, and they will enjoy relevant preferential policies.
The policy is hailed by Taiwan experts as being helpful in promoting cross-Straits exchanges in the publishing sector and in carrying forward the Chinese culture.
In the past two days, about 530 participants, 270 from Taiwan, attended the fifth Cross-Straits Economic, Trade and Culture Forum to discuss the inheritance of and how to innovate the Chinese culture, how to promote cross-Straits cultural cooperation, and extend cross-Straits educational exchanges and collaboration.
