Abstract: 2005 was called the ‘first year’ of public culture in China. From 2005 to 2024, the development of the public cultural service system can be broadly divided into three developmental stages. The period from 2007 to 2019, spanning over a decade, is marked by rapid and leapfrog development. The landmark achievements over the past 20 years include the free opening of public cultural facilities, the promulgation of two important laws on public culture, the establishment of national demonstration zones for public cultural services, the implementation of the “Three Reforms” in the public culture sector, and the promotion of high-quality development in public cultural services. Currently, public culture faces new challenges. In alignment with the directives of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, there is a need to further explore mechanisms to deliver high-quality public cultural resources and services directly to the grassroots level and to improve the mechanisms for involving social forces in public cultural services.