China's Freelancers Forge Place in Cultural Market

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 07, 2002

China's Freelancers Forge Place in Cultural Market

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In China the term "freelance" once referred mainly to people who were independent in mind and action, but hardly made ends meet, such as pop musicians, Bohemian-style painters and avant-garde film directors.

Now, the concept of "freelance" itself is becoming increasingly vague, as has the capacity of a freelancer. They are actually independent cultural workers, including freelancers, independent commercial, film and art producers.

Yan Shihao quit a state-run publishing house in Hunan Province and left his hometown in central China for Beijing to seek opportunities in the late 1980s, and has since freelanced for magazines and advertising companies in the country's capital.

He now has ended his freelancing career with his own business and a workforce of 20 people. His cultural company publishes scores of books in partnership with publishing houses every year.

Yan was one of a flock of freelancers who ventured into the metropolises after China opened up to the outside world. They were active in show business, music sector, publishing and news media.

Despite all difficulties, more young people are deciding to embrace free competition as China's economic restructuring deepens.

Caijing, a prestigious business magazine based in Beijing, has most of its articles written by freelancers.

According to a survey of Beijing's show business industry, trained freelancers numbered at least 30,000 in this field, 17 times the workforce of the state-run Beijing Film Studio.

Apart from the increase in their population, growth was also realized in the financial power of the independent cultural workers.

Fan Zhi, a Chinese sociologist, said, "Reforms of state-owned enterprises and institutions have helped widen the development space for freelancers, who have become an important force in the market."

According to Yan Shihao, freelancers and independent distributors participate in the publishing of 90 percent of the thousands of titles the 500-plus publishing houses nationwide turnout every year. Well-educated and armed with flexible views about market changes, most freelancers engage in planning, writing and marketing for the best-sellers.

In show business, freelancers are replacing regular employees to contribute to almost all programs for TV stations. Many independent TV-program makers are emerging, as more TV stations have spun off their production sectors.

Wang Changtian, who used to be a director of a state-run TV station, has become the owner of a non-state TV communications company, which daily produces programs equivalent to those of a large provincial-level TV station in number.

However the trend towards freelancing brings criticisms too.

For instance, some freelancers leave some of their products pandering to low tastes in pursuit of commercial interests.

"Freelancers should maintain a keen creativity and provide worthful products for the society, while increasing their materialwealth," Fan Zhi said.

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