Experience keeping Jilin strong in animation

Jilin province, in northeastern China, is considered the cradle of New China's animated film industry and has grown into a national animation and talent development center, where one of the main players is the Jilin Animation Comic and Games Group (ACG).

Although ACG was founded quite recently, in 2009, it is a rising star in the animation and games industry, with at least 800 employees and 16 affiliated companies. It had assets of 1.2 billion yuan ($189 million) last year, sales of 300 million yuan, and profits of more than 83 million yuan.

Its major company is the Jilin Animation Comic and Games Co Ltd, whose largest shareholder is a State-owned company, which has put more than 8 million yuan into it.

It covers every aspect of the animation and comic games sector, from investment to software development and production, to promotion and distribution of animated and comic products, and exhibitions.

ACG has acquired five subsidiaries over the past two years that handle different parts of the industry.

The Mokun Culture and Communication Co, which was founded by ACG and the Jilin Fine Arts Publishing Co, focuses on comic books and has more than 50 series.

The Changchun Senhong Information Technology Service Co concentrates on animation and video games development, with a team of 60 young people who cooperate with internationally known video game developers. They produce online games and video games for home use on various platforms including PS3, PSP, NDS, Wii and Xbox 360.

Dramatic plays for children are another sector the group covers, with a company it sets up in conjunction with the Beijing Children's Art Theater, the Jilin Theater, and a local newspaper. It has put on more than 100 shows with audiences running into the tens of thousands after opening only a year ago.

Industry support

To provide support for the industry, the local government has put 40 million yuan into it last year to build a technical service system for animation and comic games, with production centers, special effects studios, and publishing centers.

It has also become the most important place for training personnel, as well as for research and development, to provide resources for the various companies.

And, the results have been quite remarkable. One example is the Zhihe Animation Group, a Changchun cartoon and animation company, in the provincial capital, which had sales of 87 million yuan in 2010. It is now planning an international animation park.

Another animation company has produced 200 hours' worth of cartoons and three of its products were shown on CCTV, China's national TV station.

Meanwhile, the Jilin Yushuo Animation and Comic Games Co produced a 4D movie that was shown in the Jilin pavilion at Shanghai Expo. The company was given a national award as an industrial demonstration site.

At the same time, the Yilian Culture and Art Development Co has held its sixth International Comic and Animation Fair in Changchun.

The province had more than 360 animation and game producers by the end of last year, 51 of which focused on animation and the rest on video games and entertainment.

The companies have 1.2 billion yuan in registered capital and more than 47,000 employees. Their output last year was worth 6.2 billion yuan, or about 30 percent more than for 2009.

The province's most recent figures for the animation industry's output in the first half of this year, show it up 26 percent from the same period of 2010.

Jilin's animators turn out more than 800 hours of footage a year.

Now, thanks to government support, Changchun and cities in the surrounding area, including Jilin, Siping, and Yanji, have industrial zones for developing the animation industry, some of the more prominent of which are the Jilin Asian Cultural Creative Technology Zone, Zhihe International Animation Industry Park, and Changchun Software and Animation Outsourcing Park.

(China Daily 11/16/2011 page15)