Experts believe that cartoons and comics will have a very bright future in less than 5 years in China, and there will be a 10-billion-yuan cartoon market by then.

According to Lu Xuewu, principal of Animation School of Communication University of China, there are about 500 million cartoon consumers in this country, including 320 million young people, and great market needs will bring a prime to the industry in the near future.

Around the week-long National Day holiday, 22 cartoon exhibitions and 10 forums were held in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing.

Currently, China has set up 15 national cartoon industrial centers, and some 50 cities plan to make the most of the industry during the 11th Five-Year Plan Period.
 
(Chinanews.cn November 1, 2006)