Editor's note: The 16th China International Animation & Cartoon Festival (CICAF) opened on September 29 in the East China city of Hangzhou. Although Chinese animation has been catching up rapidly with its advanced counterparts in recent years, it still has a long way to go when  it comes to going global. CGTN interviewed Song Lei, director of the Development Research Department at China Animation Comic Game Group, for his take on this issue. 

1. CGTN: How does the exportation of China's animated works vary from other countries across the world?

Song: In terms of China's exported animation, Asia is the largest area, with East Asia taking a large percentage. Over the last decade, exportation to the United States has often topped the list, and now the amount to Europe and Africa is also rising. In terms of animated films, family animated works such as "Bonnie Bears" have been well-received in many countries.

In contrast, some of the highest-grossing animated films based on Chinese legends did not become a hit at box offices overseas as they did in China.

2. CGTN: What has been achieved during the globalization of China's domestic animations?

Song: First, Chinese animation has experienced a transformation from "exhibition" to "distribution" overseas. For instance, the 52-episode "Rainbow Ruby" produced by the China Animation Comic Game Group (China ACG Group) and Zhongyu Culture Company debuted in Canada, and was distributed to more than 30 countries in 2018.

Many animated series produced by CCTV Cartoon such as "Big Head Son and Small Head Dad," " Monkey King" and "Legend of Ne Zha" have been exported to Singapore, Vietnam and other ASEAN countries. "Bonnie Bears" has been distributed successfully to 82 regions and countries including the U.S. and Italy.

Second, it's the acceleration of the establishment of overseas broadcast channels. The program "China's animation" launched by Guangxi Television has signed contracts with the state media of Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, paving the way for Chinese animations in Southeast Asia.

Third, it is the further cooperation and co-productions between the Chinese and foreign animation studios. 

Due to the rising number of co-production works, some Japanese companies have started to import Chinese animations instead of solely exporting. And some Chinese animation companies have been outsourcing production to Japanese studios. For example, the animated series "Assassins Five Six Seven" co-produced with Netflix has gained popularity both at home and abroad.

Besides, others like "Kungfu Panda 3," "Wish Dragon" with Chinese characteristics and catering to the overseas market are also in the pipeline or have been aired.

Fourth, it is the platform facilitating the animation trade overseas sponsored by the government. The China ACG Group tasked with the animation promoting business has organized a number of exhibitions and festivals overseas for domestic animation IPs.

It's worth noting that the information office of the State Council along with the State Administration of Radio Film and Television has set up a China pavilion to promote Chinese animations at a variety of animated festivals worldwide such as the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

In a word, Chinese animation has to appeal to a variety of audiences instead of a niche group. Given this, there is great potential to improve production quality and distribution ways for Chinese animation.

3. CGTN: What challenges lie ahead for China's animation going global? 

Song: In terms of content quality, some of our animated works are lagging far behind the international standard because some are not suitable for children and some are too indigenous for foreign audiences to understand. Moreover, we're in short of a primary category of animation, namely the TV special, which has not been produced yet in China.

When it comes to overseas distribution, either the animated series or animated films often encounter obstacles when distributed in developed animation markets.

Disney has launched its own channels in almost every region around the world. Several large Japanese comic publishers have also joined hands in setting up a company promoting and distributing Japanese animated works.

However, there's not such a system of animation distribution in China yet. Furthermore, China's animation has not formed deep cooperation with streaming media overseas, such as YouTube, Netflix, etc.

4. CGTN: What can we do better to support China's animated works featuring traditional culture going global?

Song: The key is to let the Chinese stories be taken in. As I said before, if the works are aimed overseas, indigenous culture is a "double-edged" sword. On one hand, it is an icon of China; on the other, it would cause exclusiveness and misunderstanding. For this reason, we need to choose an international way of storytelling.

For example, a Chinese folktale "Eight Immortals Cross the Sea" which tells a story of eight legendary immortals who are neither relatives nor classmates. They are young and old, males and females, even mentally disturbed, but overseas audiences will question why they intend to go across the sea.

For someone who is not living in Chinese culture, it's hard to understand. To solve it, we may choose a universal setting that is often leveraged by our international peers, designing them as a team or group just like Big Hero, and this will be much easier for foreign audiences to accept.

5. CGTN: In terms of going global, is there any experience for Chinese animation to learn from?

Song: Only animation masters and veteran scriptwriters can make the works of its own culture shine brightly overseas, such as "Spirited Away" by Hayao Miyazaki. What we do often is to deliver our traditional culture and concepts with the cover of a universal theme. Japan is quite adept at showing its culture, concepts and spirit through divergent genres like science fiction. This is truly what could be learned from.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)