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Cartoon creative industry trade fair to open in Wuhu

By Song Hongmei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-04-30 12:55

The Second China International Cartoon Creative Industry Trade Fair will be held in Wuhu, east China's Anhui province, from October 28 to 31, a city official said Wednesday.

The trade fair is jointly sponsored by the General Administration of Press and Publication and the Anhui provincial government.

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It is aimed at being a top fair in the country that highlights trade in eight categories such as the publication of comic books, cooperation in animated TV series, movie production and broadcasting, and animation-related products, said Zhou Fei, director of the cartoon and animation office of Wuhu.

The trade fair's total transaction amount last year reached 2.1 billion yuan ($307 million) when it was held in Hefei, the province's capital, in 2008. This year it is expected to surge by 19 percent year-on-year to reach 2.5 billion yuan, Zhou said.

"There is a promising market for the comics and animation industry as the city has introduced a series of preferential policies to support and develop the industries," he said.

Local authorities in Wuhu plan to spend up to 10 million yuan a year in nurturing new talent and on awards for original comics and animation products.

For those enterprises with large-scale investment in Wuhu's cartoon industry, the city's government will subsidize more heavily to boost their development, Zhou added.

Shenzhen Huaqiang Holdings Limited, a large investment holding group with high technology industries as its core business, has planned to invest 2.5 billion yuan in Wuhu to set up a culture and technology industrial park with an area of 2,000 mu. The park will include an animation base with investment totaling 800 million yuan.

Wuhu government will spend up to 1 billion yuan on Shenzhen Huaqiang's project to fuel its development in the city, according to Zhou.

In April 2008, a high-tech theme park named Wuhu Fanta Wild Adventure built by Shenzhen Huaqiang opened to the public. The park has so far hosted 2.2 million visitors, with tourism revenue exceeding 230 million yuan.

Wuhu is home to a State-level cartoon and animation industry base and nine higher institutions, seven among which offer animation courses.