Though bookstores in China are packed with Japanese and Korean
comic books, China's cartoon critics still regard the future as
promising, given the large number of single-child families in the
world's most populous country.
"I believe the cartoon industry will bloom in China since it is
closely connected to the large number of small kids in the
country," said Jin Yanshi, chief economist of Changsha-based
Xiangcai Securities Co. Ltd when attending a cartoon industry forum
held in October in Qingdao City, east China's Shandong
Province.
Jin quoted a recent survey conducted by Peking University that
found consumption by single children had contributed to some 4
percent of China's annual GDP growth.
The increasing cartoon mania in the country and strong demand
have seen cartooning become one of the most sought after
occupations in the job market in Nanchang, capital of east China's
Jiangxi Province.
"The development of China's cartoon industry is now just at its
beginning," Jin said.
However, some scholars and cartoonists said there is still a
long way to go as the country lacks a good environment for cartoon
fans.
There is no shortage of aspiring artists for the work as
thousands of fans fancy themselves creators, and some, like Li
Weichong, have found their alliance on the 400-member Internet
community named "SPACE" based in Qingdao.
"It is common for publishing houses and magazines to hold back
payments for our cartoon works," Li said, "we find a home in the
community."
Currently, most of China's cartoonists are just processing
materials for foreign companies like animated cartoon giant Disney,
the way many Chinese companies did during the early stage of the
reform and opening-up drive.
"China has many excellent young cartoonists, but lacks an
environment in which cartoonists feel comfortable to draw comics,"
said Kimura Tadao, head of a Japanese cartoon college.
"You have to get a place for those young cartoon lovers to
publish their works when more young Chinese begin to draw
cartoons," Tadao said.
There are currently only two bases to film animation in China,
Shanghai Animated Film Studio and the China Central Television,
with China's investment in comic books and animated cartoons
totaling less than 100 million yuan (US$12 million) every year.
Observers said foreign cartoon producers' 80 percent dominance
in Chinese market shares and domestic indifference towards young
cartoon artists might stop China from expanding rapidly.
"Our gap with foreign competitors mainly reflects production
methods," said Zhang Xing, head of a cartoon studio under Hebei
Provincial Arts Publishing House. "Our rivals have already turned
to the high technologies while China still adheres to its
traditional painting."
"We need to shape a market in which comic books, animated videos
and other cartoon related products like clothes, toys and drinks
can find a place," Zhang said.
Unfazed by challenges from foreign competitors, Zhang's cartoon
studio has signed contracts with 208 cartoon artists for a cartoon
production line to produce "made in China" cartoons, hoping to add
more Chinese genres like realistic painting to the existing Western
and Japanese patterns.
"Foreign cartoons have their advantage in marketing but we
Chinese cartoonists have ample tales for creation, like the
mythical novel Pilgrimage to the West," Zhang said.
Zhang said the capital shortage for Chinese cartoon producers
might also prove another set-back for cartoon studios to carry out
mass production because a minute of animation will cost 8,000 yuan
(US$964) in China.
The hallmarks for traditional Chinese comic strips are realistic
paintings and fascinating episodes, read only by children, unlike
the Japanese cartoon mania for reading on trains, at home, at work
and at school.
"It's necessary for China's cartoon industry to catch the kids'
eyes and watch the world from the perspective of children," said
Jin Yanshi, the securities economist.
Xiong Chengyu, assistant dean of the Journalism and
Communication School of Tsinghua University, contends local cartoon
stars and figures are more important.
"To survive the fierce competition in the global cartoon market,
China needs to create its own Mickey Mouse," he said.
(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2003)