Since 2004, Zhangjiang High-tech Park in Pudong New Area has been home to creatives, including animation and games companies, supporting their endeavors in sometimes difficult markets. Qu Zhi meets some of the Zhangjiang residents and hears how they're faring.
ANIMATION company boss Xu Ke tells the story of how he was puzzled that his seven-year-old son could understand Japanese, even though the boy had never had a lesson in the language.
The child explained to his father that he had picked up the language through watching thousands of episodes of Japanese animations.
He added that he and his friends much preferred Japanese to Chinese animation.
"That's terrible," Xu tells Shanghai Daily. "China should have its own animation." Xu is making a contribution toward this, as chief executive officer of Hippo Animation Co, China's first company to produce 3D animated features, based at Zhangjiang High-tech Park in Pudong New Area.
Often called "China's Silicon Valley," Zhangjiang High-tech Park specializes in life sciences and information technology.
But since 2004, it has also been home to visual artists and entrepreneurs seeking to sketch out careers in the animation, cartoons and games industries.
From its Zhangjiang base, Hippo boasts an entire production chain, from story boarding to video editing, and all of its movies have been screened in foreign countries.
Xu says his ambition is to make Hippo Animation "the Pixar of China."
Bumpy road
Before establishing Hippo, Xu worked for an investment bank in America, engaged in venture capital for more than 10 years.
In 2002, he was working in Shanghai, but quit to pursue his dreams of the big screen.
The 10 or so years since have been a bumpy road, Xu admits.
He lost investors, moved the company numerous times and was on the brink of bankruptcy more than once.
Xu, who describes himself as a "crazy man," sold his car so that he could pay salaries during the hardest times.
During the tough times, Xu says he was grateful of the help he received from Zhangjiang.
"Zhangjiang offered full support, forgoing the rent the company owed and giving me some extra bonuses," he recalls.
Zhangjiang High-tech Park is home to more than 40 animation and comics companies, with 500 million yuan (US$81.3 million) output value a year.
Business help
Han Lu, industry and development chief of Shanghai Zhangjiang Culture and Creative Industry Holding Co Ltd, says the company provides creatives at the high-tech park with business help.
"Creativity is a prime focus of the companies based at Zhangjiang," says Han.
But over the years, Han has witnessed many passionate animators fail due to a lack of business skills.
"They worked so hard to be creative, pursuing dazzling visual effects, but didn't concern themselves with marketing and publishing," Han explains.
A lot of animation studios and companies with huge potential went bankrupt after a few years, he says.
"Animation is still an emerging industry in China and not mature enough yet.
"Zhangjiang concentrates on optimizing and improving the industry chain to enhance the cost control and the viability of the industry," says Han.
Companies based at Zhangjiang get 50 percent of the fund for creative companies sponsored by the Shanghai government. Subsidies are also available to help start-ups with their rent and for various projects.
Working in such a nurturing environment seems be benefiting Hippo.
Its film "Jungle Master" (2012) took more than 10 million yuan at the domestic box office last year; the company has completed joint-stock listing; and it plans to produce five to six animated movies every year.
Yet China's animation industry still faces challenges.
As well as audiences needing to be won over from foreign productions, many studios rely on outsourced work from entertainment giants, while piracy is also an issue.
"During the process of China industrial restructuring, animation and comics boast great competitive strength to make a voice worldwide," says Xu.
"So instead of doing outsourcing projects, I want to make original works with many talented artists.
"Even though, we have a long way to go, in 20 or 25 years, Hippo is going to be one of the top animation companies in Asia," says Xu.
Other animators based at Zhangjiang say that even when a Chinese company has a big hit it can end up being sold.
The popular "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" has run to more than 800 episodes and spawned more than 1,000 products including food, clothing and stationery. The first movie broke domestic box office records for a Chinese animated film, collecting 30 million yuan during its opening weekend.
Nevertheless, in 2010, Walt Disney acquired it.
"It's sad that it was sold after the huge success," says Dai Luhua, a 26-year-old animator working at a small animation workshop in Zhangjiang.
Despite the challenges, Dai loves the scope his career offers. "Animation renders me a whole new world so that I am able to do things which in real-life are impossible," Dai tells Shanghai Daily.
Piracy is another obstacle the industry faces, which Xu admits leaves him with a bittersweet feeling.
"I always checked pirated DVD stall near where I live to see if my movies are selling well, and I feel happy and sad at the same time ... The street vendor will tell me that my animated films are selling well, but I don't get any revenue."
He says the government should pay more attention to copyright with laws andregulations.
For another creative industry, based at Zhangjiang, business is also booming.
In 2012, total output value at the high-tech park was up to 20 billion yuan, of which the games industry contributed more than 7 billion yuan, accounting for 37 percent of 18.7 billion yuan output value of Shanghai animation industry.
Shanda Games, The9 Limited and other leading companies are among more than 50 games companies of various sizes based at the high-tech park.
They produce games ranging from massive multiplayer online extravaganzas to mobile games.
"The games industry is finding it easier to create superheroes," Han tells Shanghai Daily.
The increasing prevalence of mobile and table devices have created a growing market for games that many small studios are meeting.
A growing number of experienced staff who worked for big name console developers have opted for small, flexible start-ups.
"In this incredibly competitive market, big name consoles may lose their power gradually," says Li Yu, former CEO of Shenda Games.
"Compared to multiple online games that usually takes three years to produce, mobile game is the new beast with less cost and time."
Dong Hao is business manger of DataSpeaker, a game developer based in Zhangjiang, who started developing games as a junior in college.
In 2008, he co-founded the company and is full of praise for Zhangjiang.
Zhangjiang has gathered a lot of successful businesses and talents, while its cultural environment has also been recognized by society, says Dong.
And the human resources, capital environments and other policies are second to none in China, he adds.
"Setting up the business in this circle I can learn the latest world-class industry market dynamics," Dong says.
(Source: Shanghai Daily)
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