Chinese animations gaining ground
By Wu Jin
China.org.cn
1595837914000

During the past few years, a refined education system and improved working environment have created a significant upsurge in the Chinese animation industry. (Photo: CFP)

During the past few years, a refined education system and improved working environment have created a significant upsurge in the Chinese animation industry.

The latest release of "White Cat Legend" (season one), a domestic animation series on a young man's adventurous trip in search of his missing brothers, has produced hundreds of millions of online playback requests.

Widely acclaimed atop the ranking list, the animation is projected to be adapted to a film series and real-person shows.

However, this is not the only animation series with growing popularity across the country. There are also new rounds of episodes of the "Fox Spirit Matchmaker," "The Outcast" and "Killer Seven," achieving great success in terms of views and ratings at home and abroad.

The first half of this year saw more than 1,700 Chinese animations uploaded onto the open platform of Tencent.com, an internet-based conglomerate headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, a year-on-year growth of 30%, according to Li Xiaoting, the director of the intellectual property development and research center of Tencent's animation products.

The education system capable of providing first-hand experience and relative high pay on the output are considered two major factors fueling development of the domestic animation industry, China News Service reported recently.

For instance, students at the College of Art and Communication in Tongji University, Shanghai, are able to access a number of laboratories offering frontier technologies, such as virtual reality and motion capture. In addition, equipment like green and ball screens help facilitate experiments in animation design.

Jin, a school faculty member who spoke on condition of only revealing his surname, disclosed that several schoolmates who are now executive directors three years on from their graduation can earn as much as 15,000 yuan ($2,137) each month, 5,420 yuan higher than the city's average pay.

However, according to Dong Yi, a co-founder of a multinational animation studio, monthly salaries ranging between 10,000 yuan to 15,000 yuan is just a base pay for each outstanding entry-level animator, the rate supposed to grow in line with the designers' mellowing craftmanship.

Dong's joint studio, now among the largest in central Shanghai, has also opened offices in the United States and South Korea. Established in 2014 after graduation, the studio now employs more than 500 staff.

Nevertheless, despite the burgeoning development, more needs to be done in regard to creative thinking.

Zhu Yuping, deputy director of the Shanghai Animation and Cartoon Association, said that, in spite of the emergence of large-scale studios with plentiful medium-level animation designers, the industry still needed more creative minds to act as high-end playwrights, directors and artistic designers.

Last year, the number of registered animation and animation related companies reached 119,000, up 32.5% year-on-year.