Page 111 - Journal of Library Science in China 2020 Vol.46

110 Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.12, 2020

reached the point of holistic reform and transformation.

4.2 Establishing a “nation-individual” cultural consumption incentive mechanism with
the help of digital information technology platform, and establishing a policy for the
transformation of CBP led by institutional innovation on the consumption side

The 20 years’ experience in developing cultural projects has shown that the state’s executive power
can quickly achieve “accessing to the village”, but reaching people is not the state’s strength in the
field of culture. After all, “serving the people” (the comprehensive development needs of people)
is the ultimate goal instead of connecting to the villages. The problem of linking the hierarchical
organization of the cultural projects with the traditional interpersonal relationship and cultural
lifestyle of the grassroots rural areas can effectively explain the limited recognition and acceptance
of the cultural project. The hierarchical organization relies on the organizational channel of the
“central-provincial-city-county-township-administrative village”, which promotes the step-by-
step diffusion of projects through multiple nodes. Although, on the one hand, the characteristics of
dominance, initiative and rapid promotion enable the system to have a positive effect on improving
the diffusion efficiency of the intermediate process, it is incompatible with the traditional
interpersonal channels and the family/clan-centred cultural lifestyle of the primary-level rural areas
structured on the blood, local and marriage relations, resulting in a low awareness rate. On the
other hand, this model mainly follows “top-down” logic, which naturally leads to the lack of the
fundamental understanding of the rural cultural needs and causing a mismatch between the supply
of cultural projects and the real needs of farmers, illustrated by a low participation rate (CAO et
al., 2014). Because of the faultiness of “serving the people”, the CBP are missing the “last mile of
the road”. Consequently, low recognition among rural residents is a commonly found bottleneck in
constructing CBP.
The problem of effectively delivering rural public cultural services to people has not been solved
for decades by the policy design from the supply side. The only way to break through is to adjust
the macro policy design thinking pattern from the consumption side. Tianjin’s Cultural Benefit
Card model can inspire the transformation of the overall reform of CBP. The model is mainly
oriented to the cultural consumption services of art troupes, supported by financial subsidies, and
provides consumers with different levels of “Cultural Benefit Cards”. Consumers can visit more
than 60 local troupes and performing arts companies and get favourable discounts. The outcomes
showed that the Culture Benefit Card program has led to a notable increase in the number of
Tianjin theatres’ shows, audience, revenues, and utilization rates. Although this pilot model of
cultural consumption (FU & CAO, 2016) takes the expansion of residents’ cultural consumption
as the entry point, the reform of the supply side of culture (the service supply of art theatres) as
the target, the reform begins from the consumption side. By giving residents the power to “vote by
feet”, the “consumption vouchers” in mobile phones are used to connect national policy goals and