Foreign cartoons not so funny in
China By Crystal Wong
DONGGUAN, China - To protect and develop
the domestic cartoon and animation industry,
China's television regulator has moved to ban the
screening of foreign-made animation films and TV
series during prime time. The plan can also be
seen as an effort to reduce foreign cultural
influences on Chinese children.
The
Chinese government has an ambitious plan to boost
domestic production of comic books, animated films
and television series, seeing the fledgling
industry as one of the new keys to sustaining
growth in the economy. But currently, the Chinese
cartoon and animation market is dominated by
imported products, mostly from Japan and South
Korea.
Effective from September 1, all TV
channels on mainland China
must
stop broadcasting any foreign-made animated films
or TV series during the prime viewing hours from
5.00pm to 8.00pm every day. Advertising or brief
introductions of foreign-made animation works are
also banned from being screened during prime time.
The government currently requires
broadcasting of domestic animations to account for
at least 60% of all cartoons screened on any TV
channel, but many TV stations have simply ignored
the rule. Now it wants to raise this figure to 70%
of its all animation broadcast.
"This time
the state administration is very determined," said
Kang Meige, director of a children's channel in
the southern city of Shenzhen. Kang welcomed the
new regulation, saying he believed that domestic
animation would bring the Chinese children closer
to their traditional culture.
Kang's
comments reflect the fear among party ideologues
and older people that Chinese children nowadays
are exposed to too much foreign cultural
influence.
Cartoon channels are rushing to
change their broadcast schedules, but they find
that there are not many domestic animation works
from which to choose. Shanghai Toonmax TV, one of
the three major animation channels on mainland
China, mainly broadcasts imported cartoons during
prime time.
Now it is searching for
quality home-made products. "There are very few
good domestic cartoons in the market suitable for
youths aged 15 or older or for adults," said Li
Shilei, president of Shanghai Toonmax TV.
Chinese animation producers welcome the
new policy, believing the support will boost the
home industry. "By creating [market] demand, the
new regulation will push the growth of the
domestic animation industry," said Jin Guoping,
head of the Chinese Animation Makers Association.
TV stations prefer imported animation
programs because they are cheaper and more
attractive to a young audience. The
Transformers, an American cartoon, for
example, was provided to China Central Television
(CCTV) free of charge and earns profits by selling
related products such as clothes and toys. But
most Chinese animation makers are too small to do
that.
"Few TV stations are willing to pay
for animation works," said Zhang Xinxiong, sales
director of Shenzhen-based Tangren Animation
Company. Zhang said only giant TV stations, like
CCTV, were willing to offer a decent price for
animation, say, 600 yuan (US$75) to 1,000 yuan for
a minute.
The Chinese have got used to
watching imported animations, especially those
from Japan, since China first purchased Astro
Boy in 1981, which was the most popular
children's program of the time.
Foreign
animation increased gradually in the 1990s and
almost wiped out domestic animation works before
the government started to restrict imports in 2004
to support home production. In 2005, China's own
production totaled 42,759 minutes, more than the
total length produced during the decade between
1993 and 2002.
But still China is the
biggest animation and cartoon importer in the
world, with 80% of its cartoons coming from Japan
and 10% from America and Europe, according to
China Business News. Children preferred foreign
animation works because they were more
entertaining, said Zhang Xinxiong. Quality, rather
than quantity, is the essential factor for the
popularity of the animation industry.
The
epitome of the Chinese animation industry was the
screening of ThrutheMoebiusStrip, China's
first 3-D animation film which took five years to
make and cost of 130 million yuan. Its 10-day
box-office income was only a little more than
100,000 yuan in Hangzhou City, provincial capital
of Zhejiang. In contrast, America's Garfield
2 drew a box office of more than 600,000 yuan
in three days in Hangzhou.
"The story
[ThrutheMoebiusStrip] is too old," Fu
Haifang, vice general manager of Hangzhou-based
Xingguang Cinema Group, told a Hangzhou-based
newspaper.
According to a plan jointly
made by 10 central government departments in July,
China is to become "one of the giants in the
creation and production of animation works in five
to 10 years". Fifteen animation production bases
have been built in the country since 2004.
Crystal Wong is a freelance
writer in Dongguan, Guangdong province.
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