International animation festival ends in Beijing

The 7th China (Beijing) International Student Animation Festival ended on Oct 31 at the Communication University of China.

In one of the forums, six Chinese cartoonists gathered on Tuesday night in the university to share experiences with more than 70 students about the history and development of Chinese comics.

Famous cartoonist Pang Bangben, 76, said the boom of Japanese comic books some years ago in China trained the first generation of young Chinese cartoonists, who have now become the backbone of the industry.

He said the Chinese tradition of the lianhuanhua, a palm-size picture book of sequential drawings, is unique and precious. It's important to know them, so he often asks his students to read more of them, he added. The lianhuanhua, which used to be popular in China in the 1950s, gradually faded out.

"It's essential to promote new comics in China on the basis of lianhuanhua, but few people do that. Young people can learn drawing skills from the old comics," he said.

According to Wang Ning, general manager of Beijing Total Vision, a comics copyright export company, the development of new technologies has offered comics many platforms, including the Internet. As long as the works are good, there are several ways to promote them among readers, Wang said.

Wang added that his company has exported more than 120 Chinese comics to Western countries, and he often accompanied young Chinese cartoonists to famous comics festivals to learn.

"We should learn more from them. For example, I think the success of comics in France is due to its mature readers, market and publishing system."