China’s culture and its related industries have been gaining momentum and become a more powerful driver of the country’s economic growth.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, added value of culture and its related industries mounted to 2.72 trillion yuan ($406.8 billion) in 2015, with a year-on-year growth of 11 percent.

That contributed to 3.97 percent of GDP during the same period, up 0.16 percentage point from a year earlier, statistics released on Aug 30 showed.

By industry, the added value of cultural manufacturing stood at 1.11 trillion yuan, up 8.4 percent from a year earlier; that of cultural retail sales grew 9.3 percent to reach 254.2 billion yuan; and that of cultural services hit 1.36 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.1 percent.

The three industries accounted for 40.6 percent, 9.3 percent, and 50.1 percent of the total, respectively.

By property, the added value of cultural production reached 1.71 billion yuan, taking up 62.7 percent of the total, and the rest are culture-related production.

Entertainment services, among others, grew the most rapidly last year — with 19.4 percent from a year earlier, followed by cultural information transmission services and radio, TV and film services, both increasing more than 15 percent year on year.