BEIJING — China's cultural sector saw steady growth in the first half of the year, with new business model gaining steam, official data showed on July 30.

The combined operating revenues of major companies in the sector amounted to about 5.61 trillion yuan (about $831.2 billion) during the period, up 0.3 percent year-on-year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Among the cultural industry's sub-sectors, the revenue of new cultural formats featuring the integration of cultural content and digital technology rose 2.9 percent year-on-year to nearly 2 trillion yuan in the first six months.

During the period, digital publishing and the manufacturing sector of wearable intelligent cultural devices saw their operating revenues jump 26 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively, compared with a year ago, the data showed.

The country's central region led the growth, with the revenue of the sector expanding 8 percent year-on-year to 828.9 billion yuan, accounting for 14.8 percent of the country's total revenue of the sector, according to the NBS.

The NBS data came from a survey of cultural companies with annual revenue of more than 20 million yuan or those meeting other standards set by the NBS.