Page 2 of 2 China draws on cartoon
cat's
success By Olivia Chung
each
TV channel. Later that year, three cartoon
channels were launched by Beijing, Shanghai and
Hunan television stations.
Starting from
last September 1, only domestic cartoons are to be
aired on the cartoon channels during the
prime-time slots between 5pm and 8pm every day.
These measures have triggered a rise in
private investment in
animation production. The
first joint venture in animation production was
formed by China Film Corp, local partners and a
Canadian company in 2005.
Also, domestic
production of animation films and TV series last
year reached 82,300 minutes, almost double that in
the previous year and more than the total
production in the 12-year period between 1993 and
2004.
However, this is still far behind
the government's plan, which sets a target of
280,000 minutes annually for the broadcast of
domestically produced cartoons and TV series.
Despite the launch of the measures to help
spur the growth of domestic animation, a recent
survey, including 1,000 children in Beijing and
Shanghai, showed that of the 200 cartoons
mentioned by name, Japanese cartoon products
accounted for 50%, North American 25% and domestic
20%.
Liu Huasen, 10, who lives in
Guangdong, said he prefers cartoon characters that
are "cool" and humorous. However, Chinese cartoons
have been criticized for focusing on education
rather than entertainment.
Yang Hongwen,
secretary general of the China Children's Culture
and Art Foundation, attributed the focus on
education to the fact that cartoons are seen as as
only for children. Hollywood animated
blockbusters, on the other hand, are always
targeted at the whole family.
For example,
Blue Cat and Mimi Sheep have a
strong educational element rather than being pure
entertainment; the former is designed to improve
knowledge of science and technology and the latter
to promote language skills.
Another major
obstacle to the development of a Chinese cartoon
industry is the lack of support in producing and
promoting home-made cartoons.
Few Chinese
cartoon firms last long enough to win an audience,
as many of them have trouble recovering production
costs and go bankrupt.
Wang Liuyi, board
member of Hangzhou-based Sunchime Cartoon Group,
the producer of Blue Cat, said that having
spent more than 60 million yuan on the production,
the group almost went broke in January 2001 when
15 television stations began to broadcast The
Blue Cat and Naughty Mouse's 3,000 Questions.
"As cartoons, both foreign and domestic,
were broadcast free on Chinese television and
profits really come from the products derived from
the cartoons, we got nothing even though Blue
Cat was broadcast on 100 TV channels nine
months later," he said.
But in June 2002,
when Sunchime signed a contract with Hong
Kong-listed sports- and casual-apparel maker Tack
Fat International Group, which secured an
exclusive license for the cartoon character, the
group started making money.
So far more
than 6,000 Blue Cat-related products have
been exported to overseas countries and regions,
including the United States, South Korea,
Indonesia, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and the overseas
copyright for Blue Cat has been exported to
15 countries and regions.
Disney's Lion
King cost Walt Disney Studios $45 million. So
far, it has made $750 million from the show itself
and more than $2 billion from related products.
"Building a cartoon-related industrial
chain is of great importance to China's comic and
animation industry, as most of their profits are
gained from the sale of related merchandise or
multimedia products," said Wilson Lee, general
manager of Bubble Mon Licensing (International)
Co, who has been entrusted with more than 50
licensing rights originating from Japan, Korea,
the United States and Hong Kong.
However,
Lee said the industry is hampered by a lack of
talented professionals, particularly those in
business and trading industries. According to
statistics, China needs 150,000 production
professionals to work in the comic and animation
industry. But there are only 30,000
college-trained animation and comic specialists
across China, and each year animation programs
turn out only 600 graduates.
Lee said
rampant piracy has eroded the potentially huge
profits of domestic and foreign animation
producers in China. According to Sunchime's
estimates, the annual value created by Blue Cat
and products derived from the cartoon series
should reach more than 4 billion yuan, but the
company only made a profit of 100 million to 200
million yuan a year because of piracy.
"In
order to stay ahead of the pirates, apart from
producing related products such as stationery,
toys and models, and [video discs], some comic and
animation producers also turn to online gaming, as
users must receive authentication from the
companies before playing," he said.
Olivia Chung is a senior Asia
Times Online reporter.
(Copyright 2007
Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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