China's cultural industry has posted rapid growth since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 with the number of film screens ranking first in the world, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Chinese moviegoers wait to watch a film at a cinema featuring IMAX in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, October 17, 2018. [Photo: IC]

By the end of last year, film screens owned by cinemas across the country totaled 60,079, which is 3.6 times higher than in 2012.

The combined box office stood at 60.98 billion yuan (about 8.9 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, the NBS report said on Thursday.

China's investment in the cultural sector has also surged, reaching over 92.8 billion yuan in 2018.

The added value of China's cultural industry totaled more than 3.87 trillion yuan in 2018, accounting for 4.3 percent of GDP.