Marching to its own toon

The cartoon figure Pleasant Goat from Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.

Chinese cartoons are set to shine on the world stage as cartoon channel Nickelodeon launches ChinaToon, a one-hour segment showcasing original Chinese animations.

Debuting July 5, on Nickelodeon Asia, it will premiere two acclaimed animation series, Creative Power Entertaining's Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf and Zhejiang Zhongnan Group Animation Video's Magic Wonderland. They will broadcast to 13 territories across Asia.

The two shows will air every Saturday at 1 pm, with reruns on Fridays at 2 pm. An audience of more than 242 million households is expected to watch.

In another sign of progress, in March, 46 Chinese cartoon companies, led by the Ministry of Culture, attended the Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF). It was not the first visit, but it was the most significant.

At the fair, the China stage was decorated with red Chinese clouds and was connected to 26 stands by red carpets, attracting significant attention.

China's exhibition area was the biggest at the fair and attracted the most attention, said Song Qihui, from the Ministry of Culture.

Many believe it is the right time for Chinese cartoons to take center stage.

"Chinese animation is gaining immense popularity and critical recognition internationally," says Indra Suharjono, executive vice-president and managing director for MTV Networks South East Asia and Greater China.

"ChinaToon will be the vehicle to bring this unique genre to a wider audience. We are proud to introduce ChinaToon and its exciting lineup of Chinese animation programs as new members to Nickelodeon's family of top-rated programs that kids of all ages in Asia love."

The global economic recession has helped Chinese animations attract attention, according to Chinese cartoonist Chen Weidong.

"Japan's largest manga publishing company, Kodansha, lost a lot of money last year and there was a general decrease in comic book publishing. However, the industry in China is growing. At TAF we were frequently asked how come our cartoon industry was growing so fast," Chen says.

Mei Yan, managing director of MTV Networks China and chief representative of Viacom Asia in China says China-produced cartoons are world class: "It's important to provide a springboard to launch them into the international marketplace."

TV host Chen Zhengfei(left) and Zhu Zhu(right) at the lunch of ChinaToon on the cartoon channel Nickelodeon.

"In just a few years, both the quantity and quality of domestic animation has improved greatly," says Jin Delong, deputy editor-in-chief of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

An example of this improvement is Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, created by Creative Power Entertaining, for audiences aged from 4 to 9. In the year 3131, goats prosper on the green grassland. Pleasant Goat is the smartest goat in the village and always outwits his nemesis, Gray Wolf.

The series has fans in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, spawning a successful touring musical, and feature film that took 60 million yuan ($8.78 million) at the box office,

In contrast, Doraemon Movie's Chinese box office was 20 million yuan ($2.92 million).

One of China's most welcome cartoon film"Monkey Makes Havoc in Heaven ".

"Creative Power Entertaining and Zhejiang Zhongnan Group Animation Video are two excellent examples of how efforts to nurture the Chinese animation industry have led to the success in the development of locally-produced programming," MTV's Mei says.