China to Air More Homegrown CartoonsChina's TV stations will broadcast more homegrown cartoons, Beijing Daily reported on Thursday.From the second half of the year, China's homegrown cartoons should make up 60 percent of all cartoons aired in China, according to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. China's cartoons are not able to meet the need of the growing domestic market both in quantity and quality, said deputy director of the administration Zhao Shi at a conference held last week in Shanghai. Some 360 million viewers under 17 in China make up a huge slice of the market. China's total production of cartoons made up some 6, 000 minutes last year. Insiders say the need for cartoon programs of one domestic TV station alone is about 7,300 minutes. Statistics show that the most favorite cartoon figures of Chinese children are imported ones and eighty-five of cartoons available in China are imported. Besides cental TV stations and some provincial ones, most local channels only put on imported cartoons, contributing to the high cost and low quality of Chinese-made cartoons. "It is good to stimulate the domestic cartoon industry," said Liang Xiaotao, director of the Animation Department of the China Central Television, who is worried that China's TV stations are going to have a tough time to meet the 60 percent figure. |
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