China's sci-fi industry saw accelerated growth in 2023, generating a total revenue of 113.29 billion yuan (about 16 billion U.S. dollars), according to a report released on Saturday.
The revenue represented year-on-year growth of 29.1 percent, according to the 2024 China Science Fiction Industry Report, which was made public at the eighth China Science Fiction Convention in Beijing.
In breakdown, sci-fi games contributed the bulk of the total revenue, accounting for 65 billion yuan (around 9 billion U.S. dollars), up 15 percent year on year.
Sci-fi cultural tourism earned 31 billion yuan (about 4 billion U.S. dollars), surging 106 percent from the year before.
Meanwhile, sci-fi films and TV works raked in 11 billion yuan (roughly 1.5 billion U.S. dollars), marking a yearly increase of 38 percent.
"It can be seen from these figures that China's sci-fi industry still has huge room for development," commented Vladimir Imamovich Norov, the former minister of foreign affairs of Uzbekistan, who also attended the convention. The industry's 2023 revenue was more than 10 times the 2016 figure of nearly 10 billion yuan (around 1.41 billion U.S. dollars), reported industrial insiders, adding that China's sci-fi industry is ushering in a period of exponential expansion, riding on a tech boom and the success of screen adaptations of domestic sci-fi literature.
China's sci-fi industry rakes in over 113 bln yuan in 2023
The ultra-long special treasury bonds newly issued by China will play a positive role in optimizing debt structure, stimulating investment and consumption, according to Chinese economists.
China will start to issue the first batch of one trillion yuan (about 140 billion U.S. dollars) ultra-long special treasury bonds on Friday to raise funds for major national strategies and build up security capacity in key areas.
The central debt sales will run from May through November. The bonds will include 20-year, 30-year and 50-year securities, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Finance on Monday.
"All underwriting institutions and investment entities can have clear expectations, which reflects the scientific nature of our financial management. On the basis of the first quarter, the ultra-long special treasury bonds will leverage social investment. It also has a positive effect on the capital arrangement and financial stability of the entire market," said Li Xuhong, vice president of Beijing National Accounting Institute.
Li said that judging from the main investment areas, the ultra-long special treasury bonds will be used exclusively for the implementation of major national strategies and the construction of security capabilities in key areas.
"For example, [our ultra-long special treasury bonds] support self-reliance in high-level science and technology, as well as our integrated urban and rural development, coordinated regional development, and food and energy security. In addition, we support the project of Building a Beautiful China. These are all key areas of our support," Li said.
Industry insiders said that ultra-long special treasury bonds are guaranteed by national credit and have the advantages of low risk and strong liquidity. In addition, the yield is higher than that of short and medium treasury bonds.
"Based on previous experience of issuing special government bonds, it is expected that the issuance interest rate will refer to the interest rate of relevant maturity government bonds in the secondary market. With the issuance of ultra-long special treasury bonds, the pace of fiscal expenditures will continue to accelerate, further boosting aggregate demand, and providing stronger support for people's livelihood and technological innovation, thus effectively supporting the continued improvement of the overall economic situation," said Gao Ruidong, chief economist at Everbright Securities.
Ultra-long treasury bonds to optimize debt structure, stimulate investment and consumption: experts
