Foreword
As the final year of the 3th Five-Year period，2020 was a special year. The outbreak of COVID-19 before the Spring Festival has brought about unprecedented impact on all industries including creative industries. From central to local government，measures have been taken to revitalize economic development，promote cultural consumption，speed up creative industries integrating into internal circulation，and contribute to regional integration as well as urban and rural development based on “culture plus”strategy. The digital transformation of creative industries has been further accelerating and continuely leading when the epidemic prevention and control has become normalized.
Since urban renewal has gradually become a new paradigm of urban development，the aims of the development of creative industries have gradually integrated into the general aims of urban renewal. In recent years，culture related issues topics have been increasingly valued among policies regarding urban renewal，which provides policy guarantee on the integration of urban renewal and creative industries. Apart from promoting urban renewal，local governments have also gained precious experience from developing creative industries. Cultural resources such as historic cultural areas and industrial heritage have been protected and utilized via urban renewal. Creative industries have instilled new vitality into urban restructuring. According to the 14th Five-Year Plan，the scale of urban renewal will be further enlarged and standardized. This will accomplish co-construction and co-governance and sharing，and will actualize spatial remolding and cultural inheritance via the developing creative industries.
The Chinese Creative Industries Report 2021，themed with urban renewal and creative industries development，organized 17 representative cities in China to join and contribute in writing which include Beijing，Tianjin，Shijiazhuang，Harbin，Changzhou，Yangzhou，Ningbo，Nanchang，Fuzhou，Tsingtao，Zhengzhou，Wuhan，Chongqing，Guiyang，Xi’an，Xining and Macau. The report focuses on how the cities stimulate vitality of creative industries development，how they promote the upgrading and transformation of creative industries；elaborates on the present situation，innovation modes and characteristics of creative industries among the cities，summarizes successful experience of urban renewal and the development of creative industries integration，concludes the issues confronted and the weaknesses in its development，and explores measures and fufure directions in view of the huge challenges creative industries face at home and abroad.
This annual report follows the three part basic framework：general summary individual city report comment and analysis. It continues to publish the report on Chinese urban cultural creative industries，offers comments and analyses on the development of urban creative industries among 149 cities in China measured in 4 aspects （cultural creativity + creative ecology，enabling skills，aesthetic driving force and innovation driving force），16 indexes，and 45 data items，formulates index report and publishes rankings. On top of this，the annual report does thematic research and analysis into three city clusters：Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area，Yangtze River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
Over the past 16 years，the Chinese Creative Industries Report has been tracking the development of Chinese creative industries. It records the process of development of creative industries among major cities in China comprehensively. As an integrated brand，In 2021，Chinese Creative Industries Report will bring into the Blue Book of Creative Cities series. We will co-operate with contributors and public readers from different regions，dedicating in promoting the development of creative industries continuously. Hereby，we would like to express heartfelt gratitude to those who contributed to this report，experts and scholars in each creative city and leaders of related government sectors and associations.
Finally，we would also like express our gratitude to Beijing Academy of Science and Technology for supporting the Chinese Creative Industries Report. As an important carrier of Think Tank products，this blue book will continue to enrich the content and form of the achievements.