BEIJING, Oct. 6  -- China has taken big steps towards developing public cultural services since adopting the reform and opening-up policy three decades ago, statistics from the Cultural Ministry revealed here Monday.

    Take for example the number of public cultural facilities built in the past 30 years. In 1978, there were 349 museums across the country. Today, there are five times as many as China now has 1,722 museums.

    Ministry figures also show that China has 2,799 public libraries (above the county level) and tens of thousands of cultural centers down to the community and village levels.

    Last year, the national fiscal expenditure on cultural development was up to 19.896 billion yuan (2.903 billion U.S. dollars), more than 30 times what was spent in 1980.

    Also in recent years, special cultural projects have started at the grassroots level, especially in rural areas, including sending books to the countryside and organizing "mobile theatres" for the farmers, the ministry said.