The added value of Ningbo's cultural industry recorded 79.374 billion yuan ($11.8 billion) in 2018, contributing 4.4 percent of the city's regional GDP, up from 3.71 percent in 2005, a government press conference said on Sept 26.

The city now accommodates 110 cultural enterprises with an annual revenue topping 100 million yuan.

The number of cultural facilities, including libraries, museums, galleries and cultural halls, has ballooned in Ningbo in recent years.

The facilities include the Ningbo Grand Theater, Ningbo Gallery, Ningbo Library and Ningbo City Exhibition Hall.

Meanwhile, in a bid to enrich the cultural life in towns and villages, Ningbo had constructed 1,590 rural cultural halls as of the end of August, covering 75.5 percent of the villages in the city.

Currently, the city has 150 four-star cultural halls, with five-star being the highest level of the province's five-tier grading system for cultural facilities in rural areas.

Ningbo aims to push the number of cultural halls in the city up to 1,800 by the end of this year.

The sixth Ningbo Civic Culture and Art Festival, since its inception in 2014, has grown to be the largest and most influential cultural and art event in Ningbo.

Official data shows that over the past five years the event has held more than 1,000 activities and has been attended by over eight million people.

Ningbo has also hosted a flurry of high-profile cultural events including the Golden Roaster Festival, the Asian Art Festival and the Maritime Silk Road International Music Festival.