Emerging Chinese Cartoon Industry

Reflecting China's changing social realities, particularly in cities, Little P wants to be China's first successful cartoon icon. Bad Girl is playing a lead role in transforming Chinese cartoons from poor-quality kids' stuff or dull propaganda to something far hipper, as the country competes with Japanese manga and Korean manhwa.

The red-haired Song Yang also works as a DJ, as a model, a TV host,a games designer and a musician. "I love to mix work and play," he said. "What I've done has been out of fun. I enjoy life just as everyone else does, going to pubs, parties and art exhibitions, but what differentiates my visits to these places is that I've always got an intention. I try everything within my reach to expand my personal experiences and accumulate resources for my cartoon creations." . . . Last year, the government banned foreign cartoons during primetime TV to protect local business; SpongeBob SquarePants was proving too popular with local children. The government offers tax breaks to cartoonists, and schools have been established in four art and film academies to train more animators. . . .

The Xinjiang native is incredibly prolific. Bad Girl has been used in an advertisement for Hugo Boss' Man fragrance, he's written cartoon versions of two famous novels, Animal Is Wild by Wang Shuo, and Jade Buddha by Hai Yan, his own graphic novel, A Penguin Sits At the Other Bank and a cartoon phone novel called Oolong Khan.