Before the Gold Rush: Culture Without Industry in China

Abstract

Keane illustrates the fundamental concepts of creativity and creativity industries with the rising trend of a state-dominated model as represented by China. This chapter discusses the “creativity” element in the cultural-creative industries by returning to the fundamental question of how creativity interacts with the market and economics. Keane also problematizes the term “industries,” which mistakenly focuses on neoliberalism. The author suggests in the highly regulated market under the pretext of cultural policy in China, is in fact a kind of authoritarian liberalism under which the role of the creative industries is highly questionable.