Chinese Cartoons: You Want Government With That?

This protectionism, whether it is in the animation, TV or movie industry, will spur copyright piracy and keeps the quality artificially low in the country. See more here:

Cheers,
IP Dragon

Hello there, I've been introduced to this wonderful blog by a friend/fellow intern of mine in Shanghai a few weeks ago; however, this is my first time posting a comment as I found this blog particularly interesting so please bear with my possible amateurish rambling (though I do hope to develop in the legal field as a future profession).

I am an avid cartoon fan (yes, I'm a bit old for it, I know), especially Japanese animation as their animation style, plot, character development and dialogue can be extremely entertaining (no, I do not consider Pokemon top notch animation, though I know I will break the hearts of many young children); unfortunately, I am currently in Shanghai and I fell victim to the horrendous quality of Chinese animation. Many primetime domestic cartoons that actually show some resemblance of attractive entertainment were those made in the early 90's or older while the more modern CGI animation lack any sense of direction or entertainment value.

Why then, does the government insist on producing domestic cartoons? From the perspective of a college student who experienced childhood in Shanghai, my experience is that it helps the government maintain political stability and hold over the newer generation in what few ways it can (as China opens up wider to the influx of foreign ideas, fashion, entertainment, etc.). In Chinese cartoons such as Gourd Child (Hu Lu Wa), it illustrates and exemplifies the unity between the 7 children (each with their own unique powers) to fight evil (represented symbolically as a female Gorgon and a burly masucline crabman) and protect the peasantry, especially their foster parents, an old couple. The symbolism here are manifold, stretching from morality to righteousness and beyond. By instilling such thoughts that subtly hint towards communist unity, the government could maintain its education of the younger generations not only in school but out of school.

In terms of newer animation, either animations with similar plot and develop are made with CGI (though admittedly I'd say the hand-drawn or paper cut characters of old prove to be of much better craftsmanship) are made, or the plot of the cartoons are extremely romantic to the point even romantic Chinese girls who strive off Korean soap-operas and drama do not believe those cartoons could possibly have a scent of reality in them.

Such domestic animation, though horrible, unattractive, and unpopular still remain on Chinese TVs whereas the more popular and generally better Japanese animation are not also can be attributed to the content of the latter cartoon. Japanese cartoons have a variety of different subjects, ranging from fantasy to sports to mystery, etc. Though usually the most popular ones tend to contain subtle or blatant representations of violence and gore (e.g. Fist of the North Star), which is something the Chinese government worries as it could possibly cause social unrest among younger generations. Also, in the cases of some Japanese animation, political views are expressed, which often times (from my experience) emphasize political freedom and individuality, topics that strongly conflict with the interest of the Communist party.

Though I'm sure there are many more reasons to why the Communist party would sacrifice the economic growth it eagerly desires to push forth an ailing domestic industry, and I'm sure (and definitely hope) Chinese media would accept the help of the foreign animation industry to bolster and improve its own, the above are some reasons I thought might help shed light on this topic.

Sincerely,
NYU08

Agree with Howard Lee Harkness on the point. laughs...
Personally I think TV is good for killing time but never so good for enrichment, particular for kids. kids hardly have any self-control. Think of the long hours we spent before TV when we were kids...

The post is great in pointing out government's efforts in encouraging a top-down innovation have been vain. I think so too.

Mr. Harkness --

Thanks for checking in. "Television made me what I am. We are just good friends. Television man."

Television is not all bad. Cartoons are not all bad. Bad cartoons are all bad.

Lonnie (OMB) --

Thanks for checking in.

You are welcome.

Chinese animation particularly digital animation was a source of considerable discussion at Multi-Media Entertainment China conference which I attended and blogged about.

Besides Pixar who delivered one of the keynotes, there were several Chinese animation studios and tool vendors that presented. They were also using animation for things besides cartoons, such as historical architecture reconstructions and for promotional purposes.

With the labour cost advantage I guess it is hoped China will become a center of excellence for digital animation like Vancouver or South Korea (traditional animation outsourcing more so) and of course Japan. On CCTV perhaps I watched how a lot of the big Chinese language blockbusters are doing the digital special effects in China and they have gotten really sophisticated too.

Day One:
http://blog.muschamp.ca/2005/12/19/mmec-2005-day-one/

Day Two:
http://blog.muschamp.ca/2005/12/20/mmec-2005-day-two/

Day two might have more about digital animationa and I could have blogged more about I guess plus you can't see all the demo reels. I have pages of notes I took in MS Word...

I have just received a copy of policy on stimulating animation industry issued by State Council in July. The policy is similar to the old policy encouraging manufacturing with tax incentive and preferential treatment for domestic production such as the banning of foreigner cartoons by SARFT. However, this is not likely to work. However, Chinese government isn't the only one foolish enough to think a government policy could encourage a creative industry like animation. Richard Florida's "The Rise of Creative Class" (see http://www.creativeclass.org ) has documented the attempt of state governments in the US trying to build creative industry using similar policy. Unlike manufacturing, creative industrials doesn't benefit much from what the government can offer: cheap lands and tax incentive since they don't make that much money and utilize few spaces. Cheap labors doesn't help either. The productivity difference between individuals can be tens even hundreds folds while the salary difference doesn't vary as much.

Instead of criticize Chinese government's attempt, let's try to see what kind of policy has worked in boosting creative industry in the past. Vancouver has been shooting location of choices of Hollywood for years. X-Files was almost totally shoot in Vancouver but the creative parts were still totally decided in Hollywood. New Orleans is now front running in becoming shooting locations however, they still don't move the creative talents to relocate there. South Korea has been destination of outsourcing for animation from US (The Simpsons) and Japan. Shanghai is taking over as the favorite destination for Japanese animation outsourcing but a lot of 2D outsourcing firms have been relocating to Wuxi, Hangzhou and Suzhou because of the increasing labor cost in Shanghai.

However, with all the attraction to these new location, when was the last TV out of Vancouver makes it big time? Is there any famous cartoon character out of Korea today? Creative industry can't be created with government policy but the creative class emerge from the rich environment. Richard Florida has made an interesting point on the positive correlations between gay index and creative industry in an area showing how a rich culture environment can help to boost the industry.

Shanghai is likely to become a global creative center to emerge in the future and won't owe its success to the government policy but the perfect of triangle of being a commercial, cultural and financial. The historical image of the Oriental Pearl goes a long way for Shanghai to attract creative talents both domestic and foreigners. Famed game designer American McGee has just open a shop in Shanghai (see http://pc.ign.com/articles/724/724571p1.html ).

It's very easy to criticize how a government policy to fail boosting a creative industry because so many governments has tried and none has successfully create a Silicon Valley or a Hollywood.

Mr. Li --

Thanks for checking in and thanks for mentioning "The Rise of Creative Class." I have not read that book, but I have read a couple of articles about it and I tend to agree with Mr. Florida's main premise, which is that creative people want to be in nice places with other creative people.

I also think you are right to pick Shanghai as the likeliest place in China to lead in its creative culture. I do not know Beijing nearly as well as I know China, but I would think Beijing also is a possibility. I agree with you on Shanghai, however, because Shanghai has an historical reputation for being one of China's most open cities and I believe that is still true today.

The definition of "domestic" is ambiguous. You need at least a Chinese partner involved and certain amount of titles goes to Chinese nationals (directors, producers, art and etc). On the boarder line of the definition is so called joint venture production partnering a domestic firm with foreigner firm and the production is treated as "domestic." Some firms in Shenzhen has taken this definition very far by turing the outsourcing production order into joint venture. The foreigner owns copyrights as well as global distribution right. The Chinese party ends up with only distribution right in China. Such animation is categorized under joint venture and treated as domestic.

Domestic animation enjoy the following benefit:

1. Script approval. The domestic animations only need to submit the script for approval while imported ones have to present the finished products.

2. Broadcast right. There is a annual quota of 10 imported animations series for TV broadcast. The approval/censor process is tedious. Takes between 12 to 18 months between submitting and a yes and no answer. The animation series have to be fully dubbed in Chinese and subtitled before the submission. Until a license is granted, no negotiation with TV stations can take place. There is no such restriction on the domestic film.

3. As just announced, the prime time TV (5 ~ 8 PM) are reserved for only domestic films.

Hmm... This may be a good area for foreigner lawyers to start get involved. Outsourcing animation production to China is going to rise and the average production cost of a 52 episodes 22 minutes series is around USD$1 ~ 2 millions in China. On comparison, for Japanese animations, the cost is about USD$8 millions for the same series and similar in the US. The JV structure can be used to save cost by gaining entry into the Chinese market. Some Shenzhen animation firms as well as some Shanghai firms are using JV as part of their package in outsourcing. However, the deals are rare as it's hard to establish trust and proper protection between the foreigner and Chinese partners.