> Top Stories

Alleged copycat cartoon triggers criticism of Chinese animation industry

"It takes a college graduate 10 to 20 years to become a real artist. However, Chinese companies do not offer them such environments for growth," said Wang.

In addition, Chinese animation studios only spend one third of the their budget on script writing and character designs when producing their new animation, far less than their American and Japanese counterparts, he said.

He also appealed to the public to watch animations produced by young directors that used to receive little attention.

In spite of government support, private animation companies are still struggling to make ends meet, let alone cultivating talents.

"Private studios of about 100 employees like us do not have the ability to produce original animation. We can only take outsourcing projects from foreign companies. So employees can only learn by doing," said a private studio manager surnamed Cui.

Tony Wong, a famous Hong Kong cartoonist, said it will take time for mainland animation producers to form a unique style after a long time of imitation.

"It took three to four years before we had our own style, the cartoons from the mainland will also have similar process," said Wong.

Internet users also appealed for a revival of the Chinese school of animation which was widely recognized for its unique ink painting technique and a taste of traditional Chinese drama by the world in the 1950s and 1960s.

Cartoons made by ink paintings such as "Tadpole to Find Her Mother" and "Reed Pipe" received huge worldwide acclaim.

"Animation studios should really stop copying others, and learn from ink painting cartoons," said a microblog user named "hundansi."

Editor: Xu Xinlei

Previous 1 2
| About us | E-mail | Contact |
Constructed by Chinadaily.com.cn
Copyright @ 2011 Ministry of Culture, P.R.China. All rights reserved