"After years of development, animation and cartoon technology has improved greatly. But we still have a lot to do to promote the animation industry, especially in the areas of research and development and innovation," Zhang Xinjian, deputy director of the Ministry of Culture's marketing bureau, commented at an arts festival in September 2007.
But according to China authorities, before the cartoons and comics industries can flourish in their domestic market, they must first and foremost have enough room to breath. Room apart from the suffocating onslaught of foreign television animation imports as well as room apart from crowded, (though somewhat intentionally limiting) television markets. And although the business and market for Chinese animation has not necessary skyrocketed over the past year as wildly predicted by industry officials a year and a half ago, the 23-25% growth in minutes produced are still worthy of drawing interest.
Opening the doors for writers, directors and animators has been sort of a mixed bag for China in recent years. With various aspects of the media and entertainment sectors so closely guarded and watched over by the government, the capacity for some to freely develop and produce materials for regional broadcast is not the largest of their problems, but rather, concerns are now directed towards the understanding that channels of distribution are remarkably inadequate.
China's efforts to encourage its animation industry, likewise, have been limited. Good-natured but ultimately insufficient in their scope, initiatives imposed on television stations to curb their broadcast of foreign programming, often of animation specifically, in the past eight years has resulted in much of a double-edged sword for the Chinese animation loving community. To backtrack: the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) of China imposed regulations and quotas on local television stations, in 2000, by which approval was needed for the broadcast of certain cartoons on-air. This was, and still remains, a measurement in part for domestic productions, but is mostly in place for international co-productions subject to the censor.
According to China Daily, in 2004, "the SARFT issued another regulation, requesting at least 60% of cartoon programs aired in a quarter to be domestic," which was followed by the 2006 imposition whereby "SARFT decided to ban all foreign cartoons from 5:00pm to 8:00pm." Each of these regulations are meant to serve as a sort of netting mechanism for regional animations, hauling out unnecessary and unrelated programming while leaving behind only titles produced (or approved) by domestic hands. After the 2006 decree, domestic animation programming increased 38%. The ratio of foreign cartoons to domestic cartoons aired has resultantly shifted, per mandate; from 6:4 to 7:3, meaning that roughly 70% of all cartoons on-air must be domestically produced Chinese animation.
These moves on the part of the provincial authorities are most certainly having an effect; however, not so much the effect that was expected. Animations produced by Chinese studios are highly criticized as underachieving, lacking in inventiveness and most of all, patronizing to their chiefly young demography. Although the opportunity now exists for Chinese animators to grab a foothold onto their industry, the industry itself is stuck in a sort of limbo that lacks true vision. Earlier this year, China extended it's proverbial "ban" on foreign animation, in the primetime television market, one extra hour on through to 9:00pm; a move that has elicited interesting responses from just about every corner of the world market.
Feature News: China Animation
But according to China authorities, before the cartoons and comics industries can flourish in their domestic market, they must first and foremost have enough room to breath. Room apart from the suffocating onslaught of foreign television animation imports as well as room apart from crowded, (though somewhat intentionally limiting) television markets. And although the business and market for Chinese animation has not necessary skyrocketed over the past year as wildly predicted by industry officials a year and a half ago, the 23-25% growth in minutes produced are still worthy of drawing interest.
Opening the doors for writers, directors and animators has been sort of a mixed bag for China in recent years. With various aspects of the media and entertainment sectors so closely guarded and watched over by the government, the capacity for some to freely develop and produce materials for regional broadcast is not the largest of their problems, but rather, concerns are now directed towards the understanding that channels of distribution are remarkably inadequate.
China's efforts to encourage its animation industry, likewise, have been limited. Good-natured but ultimately insufficient in their scope, initiatives imposed on television stations to curb their broadcast of foreign programming, often of animation specifically, in the past eight years has resulted in much of a double-edged sword for the Chinese animation loving community. To backtrack: the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) of China imposed regulations and quotas on local television stations, in 2000, by which approval was needed for the broadcast of certain cartoons on-air. This was, and still remains, a measurement in part for domestic productions, but is mostly in place for international co-productions subject to the censor.
According to China Daily, in 2004, "the SARFT issued another regulation, requesting at least 60% of cartoon programs aired in a quarter to be domestic," which was followed by the 2006 imposition whereby "SARFT decided to ban all foreign cartoons from 5:00pm to 8:00pm." Each of these regulations are meant to serve as a sort of netting mechanism for regional animations, hauling out unnecessary and unrelated programming while leaving behind only titles produced (or approved) by domestic hands. After the 2006 decree, domestic animation programming increased 38%. The ratio of foreign cartoons to domestic cartoons aired has resultantly shifted, per mandate; from 6:4 to 7:3, meaning that roughly 70% of all cartoons on-air must be domestically produced Chinese animation.
These moves on the part of the provincial authorities are most certainly having an effect; however, not so much the effect that was expected. Animations produced by Chinese studios are highly criticized as underachieving, lacking in inventiveness and most of all, patronizing to their chiefly young demography. Although the opportunity now exists for Chinese animators to grab a foothold onto their industry, the industry itself is stuck in a sort of limbo that lacks true vision. Earlier this year, China extended it's proverbial "ban" on foreign animation, in the primetime television market, one extra hour on through to 9:00pm; a move that has elicited interesting responses from just about every corner of the world market.
Feature News: China Animation
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