Chinese Animation Market: Monkey King vs. Mickey Mouse

By staff reporter QIAO TIANBI

THE First China International Animation Festival and Exposition was held in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province from the 1st to the 5th of June this year. One of Disney’s most popular cartoons, Mulan, was adapted from an old Chinese folk story, and hauled in more than US$ 300 million at the box office. Spurred on by such success, Disney followed it up with the sequel, Mulan II, released in 2004. Mulan was fortunate, in that of the thousands of Chinese folk tales, it was selected by one of the world’s largest moviemakers.

However, GoGo Top, the first weekly Chinese animation magazine, carried out a survey in 2004, showing that of Chinese youngsters’ top 20 favorite cartoon characters, only one, the Monkey King, is Chinese. This survey rattled some Chinese cartoonists, as the animation industry is set to reap some US$ 60 billion in China this year and will enter a golden period in the next three to five years.

China, with its 370 million children, is considered one of the world’s largest animation markets. The Quatech Market Research Company surveyed youngsters aged between 14 to 30 in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and found that they spend over RMB 1.3 billion (about US $160 million) on cartoons every year, but that more than 80 percent of the revenue flows straight out of the country. During the 1980s and 1990s, China formed the largest production base for European, American and Japanese animation companies, due to the country’s low labor costs and high quality artists. Many famed cartoons and animated films were produced in China. Later, however, production costs dropped in other countries, and the global animators packed their bags and left. At the time, China hadn’t formed a significant animation industry of its own.

To stimulate the industry in China, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) issued a new policy in April 2004 that aimed to separate animation production from screening business, and encouraged multiple ownership businesses to get involved in animation development and operation. The year 2004 was set as the country’s Animation Year, and the industry generated revenue amounting RMB tens of millions.

However, animation production and TV alone can’t maximize the industry’s profits. In other countries, most of the industry’s revenue comes from the sale of related merchandise or multimedia products. “We need to put more effort into developing all sides of the industry,” says Jin Guoping, director of Shanghai Animation Film Studio. In 1999, the Studio spent RMB 21 million (about US$ 2.54) on producing Lotus Lantern. The animated film earned a box office income of more than RMB 20 million, but failed to capitalize on any related products. The same film studio shot a cartoon series Crazy for the Song in 2001, and although two-thirds of its profits came from selling related merchandise, it lags far behind compared with foreign animation companies. The American cartoon Transformers was broadcast free on Chinese TV, but subsequent profits from toy sales amounted RMB 5 billion.

Story-Telling Skills Needs Improvement

Studies show that among Chinese youngsters, 60 percent prefer Japanese cartoons, 29 percent prefer Americans, and just 11 percent favor those made by Chinese mainland, Taiwan or Hong Kong animators. Mr. Jin says Chinese cartoons simply do not appeal to Chinese youngsters, as although many of them are made for children under the age of 14, the majority of them are intended to educate rather than entertain.

Chinese kids seem to relate better to Japanese cartoons, because they provide a vivid reflection of the instincts and problems that children have. They also promote friendship, love and ambition. Chinese cartoon characters, on the other hand, are rigid and lack the sense of fun and innocence that children hold so dear. “Chinese cartoonists are as good as Japanese ones, if not better,” commented famous Japanese cartoonist Chiba Tetsuya. “But a good cartoon requires not only good drawings, but also an interesting plot. Chinese cartoonists need to spend more time on creating adventure story lines and on upgrading their story telling skills.”