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China plans to spend billions of dollars in the next few years to develop media and entertainment companies that it hopes can compete with global giants like the News Corporation and Time Warner. An ambitious plan, set forth in guidelines last week by China's State Council, envisions the creation of entertainment, news and culture companies with a market orientation and with less government backing. China, in short, would like to consolidate its industry into companies resembling Bloomberg, Time Warner and Viacom, analysts say. "There appears to be a feeling at the highest levels of government that they need a media machine commensurate to the rising status and power of China," says Jim Laurie, a former ABC News correspondent who teaches at Hong Kong University and recently met with Chinese state broadcasting executives. Beijing hopes the moves will even improve the nation's image overseas—part of a longstanding effort to use "soft power," rather than military might to win friends abroad. Along the way, Beijing will allow private and foreign companies to invest in everything from music, film and television to theater, dance and opera productions—though largely through state-owned companies. The News Corporation, Viacom and other Western media giants have for years been frustrated by their inability to win approval to produce films and television programs aimed at Chinese consumers; often, they have operated with Chinese joint venture partners and run into delays or political barriers. Several American companies said they were studying the new Chinese rules and declined to comment further on them. In its announcement last week, Beijing said that state-owned groups would be reorganized to allow outside financing so that they could "live on their own rather than being attached to government departments as parasites." The companies will gain greater freedom to finance and produce a wider range of entertainment and cultural content for distribution inside the country, and even for export. Though China has not provided a detailed plan yet, one exception is likely to be news programming, which falls under the control of the government. China has also been upgrading its state-run news media, with an eye on foreign language publications, wire services and television programs to reach readers and viewers overseas. Among the first companies to benefit from the new government policy will be Shanghai Media Group, one of the country's biggest state-run news and media conglomerates. In August, the government gave the company approval to reorganize its operations and to issue stock to the public. The government policy bank will become a partner with S.M.G. on a separate $735 million private equity fund. That fund, China Media Capital, will invest in media and entertainment properties and is headed by Mr. Li, the chairman of S.M.G.
单选题21.Chinese media industry was characterized by______.