Under the background of the current focus on “promoting high-quality development and creating high-quality life”, the “3rdChina Leisure & Tourism Development Forum and 2018 China Urban Leisure Index Conference” jointly sponsored by East China Normal University and Shanghai Normal University was held in Shanghai on November 16, 2018.Phd. Li Meng, a researcher from Shanghai Academy, was invited to attend the conference and give a keynote speech themed “From Combination to Integration: the Road to High-quality Development of China's Cultural Tourism Industry".
At the meeting, the Center for Leisure Studies of East China Normal University released the2018 Report on China Urban Leisure Development Index. The report shows that the leisure level of the country’s 36 key cities included in the monitoring study has been steadily increasing. At the same time, the typical features of “leading by the eastern region, rising of the western region and depression in the central region” are presented in the spatial pattern, which objectively reflects the achievements made by all regions in promoting high-quality development and creating high-quality life, as well as the directions requiring efforts.
From the perspective of overall development level, a total of 36 cities, including four municipalities directly under the central government, 27 provincial capitals, and five cities specifically designated in the state plan show a steady growth in the level of leisure. Among them, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have remained in the top three for eight consecutive years since 2011.
From the comparison among cities, Beijing ranks highest and Lhasa scores the lowest. The difference in evaluation scores is 6.40 times, however, compared with 7.64 times eight years ago, the gap is narrowing. The cities specifically designated in the state plan such as Ningbo, Qingdao, and Dalian rank higher than most provincial capitals.
From the perspective of the regional pattern, on the one hand, there are obvious differences in the development of eastern, central and western regions. The top 10 cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, and Tianjin, with seven cities in East China, one incentralregionand two inwestregion. On the other hand, “leading by the eastern region, rising of the western region and depression in the central region” has become a new pattern in the development of urban leisure in China. In recent years, the overall average level of urban leisure development in western China is higher than that in centralregion, and the coordination degree of the development within the region is better than that in centralregion. In this regard, Prof. Lou Jiajun, chief expert of the ECNU Research Group of “China’s Urban Leisure Index” pointed out that, supported by the policy of “Rise of the Western Region” and led by the State’s “Belt and Road Initiative”, the overall rise of urban leisure level in western China plays an inestimable role in social stability, national harmony, as well as the people’s well-being in the western region.
Looking from the 44 indicators of the urban leisure index and five dimensions of the evaluation index, Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou rank among the top five in terms of economic and industrial development. In terms of traffic facilities and safety, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chongqing rank among the top five. In terms of leisure services and hospitality, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou rank among the top five. In terms of leisure space and environment, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Nanjing and Beijing rank among the top five. In terms of leisure life and consumption, Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou and Changsha rank in the top five. It can be seen thatthe cities in the eastern region have an absolute advantage in each sub-index evaluation, Chengdu, Chongqing and other cities in the western region perform noticeably well, while Changsha in the central region is more eye-catching in the dimension of leisure consumption.
Further analysis shows thatthe characteristics of unbalanced and inadequate leisure development in each city are obvious. For example, Beijing ranks first in total score, yet ranks 32ndin air quality. Likewise, Chongqing ranks fifth in total score, yet ranks 32ndin the single index of “education, culture and entertainment consumption per capita of urban residents”. In the case of Changsha, it ranks 15thin total score, yet ranks first among 36 cities in terms of education, culture and entertainment per capita of urban residents.Prof. Lou pointed out that solving the problem of balance and adequacy among the indicators of urban leisure and making up for the weakness of development will help China’s urban leisure enter the fast lane of high-quality development.
As viewed from the development trend of urban leisure, since the Center for Leisure Studies of East China Normal University released the index of urban leisure in China in 2011, the overall level of urban leisure in China has been improved significantly, and it has become the common pursuit of all cities to promote the construction of livable cities and serve citizens with high-quality life through leisure development. It can be predicted that with the coordinated development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, the successive implementation of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, as well as the continuous deepening of the construction of the “Belt & Road”, China’s urban leisure level will improve in high-quality development and balanced and adequate development, and will better serve the cities high-quality life. From the perspective of development practice, the comprehensive optimization and perfection of urban leisure functions and the continuous improvement of the ecological leisure environment will become the key livelihood tasks promoted by the cities in the process of new-type urbanization. At present, a number of cities have carried out such measures as the renewal and transformation of leisure space, the matching of community leisure facilities, and the construction of culture to improve residents’ good life, and are accelerating the development of leisure throughout the region.Professor Lou pointed out that the fundamental purpose of urban leisure development is to improve the quality of urban life and meet residents’ demand for a better life. In the future, the development path of urban leisure in China will change from the mode of “integration of business, travel and culture” to the mode of "integration of business, entertainment, culture, sports, and living”, which is a key measure to enhance the attractiveness and competitiveness of cities.
