China's culture industry logged a steady recovery in 2021, with new business forms registering rapid expansion, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows.

The combined operating revenue of major firms in the sector topped 11.9 trillion yuan (about 1.87 trillion U.S. dollars) last year, up 16 percent year on year and marking a two-year average growth of 8.9 percent, according to an NBS survey covering 65,000 companies.

China's culture industry reported a solid recovery in 2021, said NBS senior statistician Zhang Peng. Zhang noted that 41 out of 43 industry subsectors reported year-on-year expansion in operating revenue.

The total operating revenue of the 16 subcategories closely related to new business forms, such as animation, games, and digital publishing, climbed 18.9 percent year on year. It accounted for 33.3 percent of the total revenue of the industry.

Zhang expected further expansion of China's culture industry in 2022, highlighting the supply of higher quality products and the dynamic consumption market.