Preparations are in full swing for the First China International Animations Festival and Exposition, which will open in June in Hangzhou, capital of south China's Zhejiang Province.

Leaders of the animation industry recently gathered in the city to discuss development strategy of the emerging sector. People engaged in cartoon making has exceeded 1,500 in Suzhou, with an annual output value over 100 million yuan. Experts say that amidst calls for rejuvenating domestic animation industry, the Yangtze Delta, where important cities as Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai are located, should take the lead by listing animation on top of its service sector.

Shanghai saw the establishment of China's first animation base in 2004, which was followed by many others in the region during the next year. Among the nation's 9 first-batch animation bases, 3 settled in Shanghai and Hangzhou, and among the first four animation teaching and research centers one landed in Hangzhou. By now the two cities have seen seven industrial parks featuring digital entertainment and cartoon making.

On the 2005 exhibition agenda there are at least seven large-scale animation expositions held in Shanghai and Hangzhou. ChinaJoy, one of world third and China first scales, will continue in Shanghai, and the first China International Animations Festival and Exposition will be staged in Hangzhou. Between May and July, other five exhibitions of the same kind will open in the two cities.

By People's Daily Online