In 2002 cultural input was boosted all over the country, with cultural enterprises receiving a total 12.85 billion yuan -- 1.838 billion more than last year (up 16.7 percent). From that amount, government financial subsidies for national cultural affairs totaled 8.366 billion yuan -- 1.226 billion more over last year, an increase of 14.5 percent on a yearly basis. Income from other sources (enterprises or business) totaled 4.48 billion yuan -- up 57 million yuan or 14.5 percent per year.

In terms of the structure of cultural input, cultural enterprises throughout the country depend largely on financial input to maintain development. In recent years the ratio of financial input to total input has climbed from 58.2 percent in 1995 to 65.1 percent in 2002, amounting to a 6.9-percent increase. This indicates that the government has intensified its investment in culture to far exceed income from services and business operation of cultural enterprises. This also demonstrates that only by enlarging government input in commonweal affairs can China's cultural affairs retain their healthy development, satisfy the people's cultural needs and improve the quality and level of cultural services.

In terms of the levels of cultural input, central financial institutions contributing at the same level far exceed those of local institutions. Since the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2001-2005), local cultural input at the same level has increased slightly (94.6 percent in 2002 - a 3.3-percent increase over 2000), but in terms of the average increase in cultural expenses, central finance has reported an increase of 17.2 percent on a yearly basis -- 4.3 percent more than the 12.9 percent in local finances. Therefore, to promote the rapid development of cultural affairs, local cultural finances must be strengthened.

In terms of cultural input in urban and rural areas, the government has been gradually strengthening its contributions to total 2.264 billion yuan in 2002 -- 577 million more than in 2000 and up 34.2 percent on a yearly basis. Cultural investment accounts for 27.1 percent of the country's total financial investment -- up 4.3 percent. Compared to the cultural input in urban areas at the same time, rural input still lags behind in respect to the base of the outlay, as well as the speed of outlay increase. In 2002, cultural input in urban areas accounted for as much as 72.9 percent of the total -- 45.8 percent more than that in rural areas. As a result, it is incumbent on the country to intensify its investment in the rural culture to promote cultural development in rural areas and improve the quality of farmers.

In terms cultural input areas, since the Tenth Five-year Plan, the government has been strengthening its input in western areas, which totaled 1.899 billion yuan in 2002 (528 million yuan more than in 2000 and increasing by 38.5 percent), amounting to 22.7 percent in the government's total financial input -- an increase of 1 percent based on 2000. Compared to that of eastern and the central areas, cultural input in the western areas still falls behind in terms of the base amount of the outlay and speed of outlay increase. In 2002, financial input in culture in eastern and central areas accounted for as much as 77.3 percent of the total -- far exceeding that of western areas, which only accounts for 54.6 percent.

The above statistics show that due to financial difficulties, the base cultural expense amount in western areas is relatively small, and, as a result, despite the huge increase, there is still a wide gap between western and eastern areas. Such circumstances cannot be altered within a short time. In the near future, cultural input in western areas must be strengthened to narrow the regional disparity and the great strategy of opening up the west must be implemented so that an advanced Chinese culture can thrive.