Over 120 animated film companies both at home and abroad have attended the ongoing Kids World '99 Exhibition in Beijing, and nearly 500 cartoon films have been listed for trade, said organizers.

"We aim to introduce European culture into China, with Beijing, the capital city, as a main focus. We are sure that China is a market with great potential," said Shi Yansheng, Chinese manager of the German EM.TV Merchandising AG, creator of Alice, a well- known cartoon character. This is the second time the company has participated in an animated film exhibition in China.

Cartoon filmmaking is a high-cost industry, yet China will surely attract more top companies in the field if it can make substantial progress in the anti-piracy fight, Shi said.

The popular "Twipsy" is now shown on China Central Television ( CCTV).

And Chinese-made feature-length "Lotus Lantern," which premiered on July 30 this year, has been a great success, with box office income in the past three months reaching 2.5 million yuan ( 300,000 US dollars).

"China will have a hard time developing a market-oriented cartoon film industry. But we are determined to set up China's own cartoon group and create popular Chinese cartoon characters," said Shen Qia, head of the development department of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, which produced "Lotus Lantern." (Xinhua)