China Eyeing Boom in Cartoon Animation Industry

Chinese animators are seeing a boom in the cartoon industry.

Backed by favourable government policies and the world's biggest cartoon audience, young Chinese are scrambling for places in animation school as they eye their place on the global stage.

Animation artists in Beijing are busy bringing to life one of China's favourite cartoon series - Sanmao.

It traces the exploits of a young boy growing up in Shanghai in the 1930s.

There is a huge demand for made-in-China cartoons.

Since September, only Chinese cartoons are to be shown every evening from 5pm to 8pm.

This means local animation houses will have to produce an estimated 30,000 hours of cartoons each year.

Currently, China does not even produce 1 percent of this.

Chen Zhihai, Animation Artist at Beijing Glorious Animation, said: "I think China's animation can be the best.

We have 5,000 years of history and what we can represent is rich."

more: channelnewsasia.com/stories/eastasia/view/235673/1 (441)

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