Big Fish & Begonia [Photo provided to China Daily]

Attention

Since 2000 the government has given more attention to the state of the animation industry, aware that the country's screens were dominated by foreign characters for more than a decade.

In 2000 the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued a guideline on importing and broadcasting foreign animation, setting a ratio of 6 to 4 for aired domestic and foreign animations, and limiting the airtime of foreign animations to less than a quarter of each children's program.

In 2004 the administration issued advice on developing the country's animation industry, encouraging more productions, airtime, financial incentives and management.

They were signals from the government that were well received by the country's young animators, He Zhanwei among them.

After obtaining a degree in applied arts, He embarked on an animation career in Hunan province in 2004, joining a company that was producing China's longest animation series, Naughty Blue Cat's 3,000 Questions. The series, with more than 2,000 episodes, was broadcast until 2012.

"I learned how to make animation fast there," He says. "In my father's generation China was building its industrial economy, and now it is turning to the cultural economy."