Abstract: City's cultural and creative industry has increasingly become an important industry in the national economy and a pillar sector of the tertiary industry. The strategic decision of developing cultural and creative industry and building up the cultural power has been stressed by the central government of China. The studies on this topic therefore are helpful for understanding the transformation of urban industries and the sustainable development. Based on the discussion of the concept of cultural and creative industry, using the methods such as field investigation, comparative analysis and on-site interview in the districts of the industry, this paper describes the current status and characteristics of the development of the cultural and creative industry, and analyzes the issues. Furthermore, this paper displays the characteristics and patterns of spatial distribution of city's cultural and creative industry in China at the national and urban levels. The results have shown that city's cultural and creative industry has been developing rapidly and continuously in China, and it has already become a pillar industry in several big cities and a new driving force of industrial transition and economic development. Up to now, six clusters of city's cultural and creative industry have been formed in China, including the Capital area, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Chuan-Shaan Area, Central Area and Yunnan Area. City's cultural and creative industry in China exhibits four types of spatial distribution patterns, including central city areas, peripheral areas around the city, areas adjacent to high-tech parks and the areas in outer suburb counties. In the future, city's cultural and creative industry in China needs to be further developed in order to become a pillar industry of urban economic development. This paper suggests that talent training for developing the industry should serve as a primarily intellectual support. In addition, construction of the industrial clusters is important for enhancing the spatial development of the industry in clustering pattern. The government should make favorable policies and set up funds for the development of the industry. The paper also suggests that there is a need to establish an alliance among the cities internationally and make favorable policies to accelerate the international development of city's cultural and creative industry.

Key words: China, city's cultural and creative industry, development strategy, spatial distribution