Lost and embarrassed

Author:Cai Zhizhong

A survey conducted by a well-known domestic cartoon magazine shows that about 95 percent of the Chinese cartoon market remains dominated by Japanese and US products.

Even the original Chinese cartoons featuring similar images, dialogues, pictures, and stories similar to those of foreign cartoons often involve what critics have called "a kind of mendacity and affectation."

Although the reasons for such imitation are complicated, there is a common thread: commercial writers and publishers, in the pursuit of immediate profit, will imitate any new cartoon that hits the market and gains popularity.

Another drawback for original Chinese cartoons lies in the local "production model," that is, creation by individual artists without systematic co-operation and a lack of mature business operations and as well as a clear division of labor -- including market research, publication, plans and collection of subject-matter --, all of which have long been established in Japan and the United States.

The Chinese cartoon market is already voracious but the domestic industry cannot yet meet it. As a result, original cartoon creation lags far behind the global level and suffers from a reputation for notoriously imitating foreign styles.

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