THE cultural industry has boomed over the past five years as authorities adopted a series of policies to promote culture and the arts.

    A number of good works in literature, movie and TV, drama, and music have been produced, with an average of 400 pieces winning provincial or national awards each year.

    The children’s musical “Er Xiao, the Cowherd,” fiction “Tibetan Mastiff,” films “Gold-medal Worker” and “Tiny Dust, True Love,” and children’s song “Hoh Xil” won top national awards by the Publicity Department of the Central Committee of the CPC. “Er Xiao, the Cowherd,” also won a Wenhua Award at the eighth China Art Festival.

    The city also won nearly 100 other national cultural and art awards from 2000 to 2009, the biggest number of Shandong cities.

    The anti-graft play “Heaven on the Left, Abyss on the Right” won second prize at the festival to mark the 100th anniversary of modern drama in China.

    Modern Beijing opera “Tuoge and Jinlan” won first prize at the Fifth China Beijing Opera Festival. “Forward, Forward” won a prize for excellence at the Sixth National Children’s Play Competition.

    The award-winning dramas and movies have been performed and shown at nursing homes, schools, outdoors in the countryside and on construction sites free of charge.

    On average, Qingdao’s performance troupes and theaters give 700 shows each year.(Chen Ting, Wang Ping)