BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 8. China’s cultural enterprises reported a 6.4% year-on-year increase in business revenue in the first quarter of 2026, reaching $521.36 billion (3.56 trillion yuan).
Data obtained by Trend from the National Statistics Bureau of China shows that it covers 482,000 enterprises above the designated size, and indicates that sectors representing new cultural formats recorded stronger growth.
Revenue in 16 such sub-sectors increased by 11.2% year-on-year to $246.04 billion (1.68 trillion yuan), outperforming the overall sector by 4.8 percentage points.
By industry type, cultural services remained the main growth driver, with revenue rising by 9.9 percent to $303.15 billion (2.07 trillion yuan). Meanwhile, manufacturing, as well as wholesale and retail segments, posted more moderate growth of 1.5 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
