From March 27 to 31, 2006, organized by the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Foreign Affairs of Zhejiang Provincial Government, 25 journalists based in Beijing and Shanghai from the Associated Press, AFP, Nikkei, Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun & NNN, Kansai Telecasting Corp, AKAHATA, Al-Jazeera Satellite TV Channel, The Hindu, China Economic Quarterly of UK, Norwegian Evening Post and Singaporean Straits Times visited Zhejiang to cover the development of the cultural industry and private economy in the three cities of Hangzhou, Yiwu and Wenzhou.

I. Hangzhou

"Finches sing amidst the red blossoms while grasses grow around the lake with egrets hovering above". In March, the best time to visit South China, the journalists arrived at Hangzhou, a city with a long history and splendid culture, covering the animation industry of Zhejiang province.

Challenges and prospects for Chinese animation industry

Animation & cartoon are favored by young people all over the world. In recent years the animation industry has developed into an increasingly important economic growth point. Today, the annual output value of derivatives of the global animation industry exceeds US$500 billion. With 370 million youth, China is a big animation market with great potential. In 2004, the Chinese animation industry achieved a total revenue of more than RMB10 billion. However, over the years, the Chinese animation industry has developed fairly slowly, far lagging behind that of the US, Japan, South Korea and European countries. The animation works of those countries dominate the vast Chinese market. Japanese animation alone makes up 80% of China's market while the homemade animation works only have a market share of about 10%. Survey shows that among the most favored animation works by the Chinese youth, Japanese works account for 60%, European and American works for 29% and Chinese original animation works, including that of Hong Kong and Taiwan only make up 11%.

Taking the reality and future of Chinese animation market into consideration, in 2004, China Academy of Art formally set up the School of Media and Animation to foster creative students of image art and animation and to explore a unique Chinese road of developing the media and animation culture.

On the morning of March 28, the journalists came to the School of Media and Animation to make interviews. The exterior wall of the main teaching building is covered by block board and embedded with grey tiles, presenting a quaint and rustic visual appeal amidst high trees and thin bamboos. The gate of the main teaching building has a height of about 7 meters and width of about 4 meters. Looking into the gate, visitors seem to see a color mountain and water painting: green trees on the remote mountain set off one another with egrets occasionally hovering above and the nearby brook gurgles with patches of golden rapeseed flower and white sweet rocket blooming splendidly. The gate is just the frame of the painting. In the classrooms of the teaching building, students are absorbed in drawing pictures, designing colors, shooting and producing works. Outside the building, groups of students stand on the lawn and discuss something heatedly. In such an atmosphere people easily come with longing for the rise and development of Chinese animation industry.

"Carrying the spatula to do digital art"

Wu Jianrong, Chairman of Zhejiang Zhongnan Group, is also distressed about the status quo of Chinese animation market. He said that his company was originally engaged in the business of construction installation. Seeing many Chinese children including his own kid go after foreign animation and cartoon works, he feels upset beyond expression. He himself only studied in school for five years and as a "mason" knew nothing about the animation industry. But he still hopes do something for the Chinese animation industry and produce certain original works integrating Chinese culture, traditional ethics and entertainment so as to exert a subtle influence on the Chinese kids.

Driven by the idea, he invested in the establishment of a special subsidiary Zhejiang Zhongnan Group Animation Video Co Ltd. in 2003 which is dedicated to becoming the leading company of original animation production, audio & video sale and derivatives development & marketing in China. The same year the company invested RMB50 million and produced the 500 series of original TV animation work Sky Eye which was initially broadcasted on CCTV Children Channel on June 1, 2005. Compared with foreign companies, the investment of RMB50 million is fairly small, but it is a big move in the Chinese animation market, according to Wu. He believes that it will become an influential piece of work leading the trend in the Chinese animation industry and marks a new start of the industry as well.

II. Yiwu

Located in the central part of Zhejiang province, Yiwu is linked with Guangdong and Fujian in the south, the hinterland in the west and Shanghai in the east and faces the golden Pacific waterway. In China, Yiwu plays a radioactive role of "linking the east with the west and integrating into the international market" in the sector of commodities circulation. Around the world, with economic globalization and international division of labor progressing steadily, the commodities trade of Yiwu, as a traditional industry of the city, will embrace greater opportunities for development.

Yiwu is a city full of vigor and vitality, which all the visitors to this "capital of commodities" feel keenly. To merchants, Yiwu is a must-go place. The diversification of commodities, the cheap prices, the stability of quality and the intensity of competition are beyond imagination. Among the journalists many are responsible for reporting Chinese economic news and hence are particularly interested in the trip to Yiwu.

Small commodities yet large market

The journalists first of all visited the museum of Yiwu small commodities market (now the China Yiwu International Commercial and Trade City) to learn the history of the Commercial and Trade City from vendors wandering about the streets to setting up stalls, constructing sheds for merchants to sell commodities together and finally building the City as the platform of small commodities trade. As one of the earliest specialized markets in China, Yiwu small commodities market was established in 1982. After 24 years of development it has grown into the Yiwu International Commercial and Trade City covering an area of more than 2.6 million square meters. At present, over 590 foreign companies have set up business offices in Yiwu and 200-plus countries and regions established economic and trade ties with it.

In fact, pure numbers hardly give clear impression. The journalists know it is appropriate to call Yiwu "the sea of small commodities" once stepping into the City. Taking the shape of a wave, the City has a straight length of 2,500 meters, a perimeter of 6,600 meters and more than 58,000 stores (that is to say, if you spend 1 minute in each store 8 hours a day, it at least takes you 120 days to visit all of them). There are altogether more than 320,000 types of commodities which are divided into 1,502 categories covering 34 industries, including almost all types of daily use industrial products. As the international circulation, R&D and display center of small commodities, the City is the largest small commodities export base of China and the biggest small commodities wholesale market in the world as well. With such a strong competitiveness in the international market, the City is undoubtedly known for "small commodities yet big market".

Making frames outside any "frame"

Entering the exhibition room of Yiwu HuaHong Holding Group Co. Ltd., the journalists first of all saw various photo, painting and mirror frames placed orderly. According to Gong Pinzhong, Chairman & President of HuaHong, the frames are made from glass, plastics, hardware and resin. With original shapes and fine craftsmanship, they are favored by Chinese and foreign customers and sell well in Chinese cities as well as other countries and regions in the world like Asia, America, Europe and Australia.

"Our company follows the vision that success of business is realized not by doing but by thinking," Gong told the journalists, "we believe that idea creates miracle."

Being asked how to cope with the challenges in the process of promoting the growth of the company, Gong said, "It is hard to measure the potential of a person. When a person is pushed on a big arena, he will tap his potential even if he does not know how to perform. Such a potential might be beyond his imagination. Maybe the performance has much to be improved, but his performance must be better than what he did before. Therefore, my secret is to constantly break existing constraints and put my company and myself on a bigger arena to perform."

Guided by such new ideas, HuaHong develops rapidly. Within a short period of 8 years from July 1998 when it was established to now, it finished the start-up process which other companies generally need 15 to 20 years to go through. Today, the company has grown into a large private business with more than 3,000 staffs and over RMB100 million of fixed asset and covering an area of 500 mu. Each year it produces 8,000-plus frames of various materials of which over 90% are exported overseas. Its annual sales revenue reaches RMB250 million, including US$15.28 million of foreign exchange generated through export. Over the years, it has been honored as the "Famous Trademark of Zhejiang Province" and "China's largest base of industrial products".

A colleague from the News & Culture Division of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Foreign Affairs accompanying the journalists said emotionally it is admirable that HuaHong Group as a frame producer is not confined to any frame and keeps exploitation and innovation. "Making frames outside any 'frame'" is the essence of HuaHong's growth.

III. Wenzhou

Wenzhou is located along the remote southeastern seaside of Zhejiang with complicated water system and high mountains. Such a city which should have been not eye-catching at all draws the attention worldwide and moving stories happen here one after another. How do the Wenzhou people succeed? It is a question the journalists are also interested in. According to Xie Hao, Vice Secretary General of CPC Wenzhou Municipal Committee, at a given historical period and under specific geological conditions, the Wenzhou people carried on their humanitarian spirit, worked extremely hard, neither relied on others nor slacked, fought fearlessly and never gave up. Overcoming numerous difficulties and challenges, they have written a large number of glorious stories about survival and exploitation.

"I pursue healthy development, and what can they do to me?"

Kangnai Group was established in 1980. During its 26-year history the company has encountered much hardship and twists and turns of which the "fire" on August 8, 1987 has the biggest impact. At that time, Zhejiang authorities burned up a batch of Wenzhou shoes with poor quality in Wulinmen, Hangzhou and later Wuhan, Chongqing and Dalian followed suite. A dozen of large and medium-sized Chinese cities refused to sell Wenzhou shoes, so many large department stores. Wenzhou shoe makers had to conceal their identity and for many Wenzhou people printing "Made in Wenzhou" became a taboo.

However, facing with the setback, Zheng Xiukang, a Wenzhou native, was not discouraged. To him, the poorer the living conditions are, the eager he will be to grow business. He made up his mind to set "three fires" on his company: raising the design and manufacturing capacities, building a well-known brand and developing the marketing network. To build his own famous brand, he decided to face up to the criticism on Wenzhou products and re-designed the company's trademark as a head portrait with chest and head high. He named the trademark as "Kangnai", meaning "I pursue healthy development, and what can they do to me?" in Chinese. From then on, Kangnai Group has developed healthily with the output, sales and market share increasing steadily on a yearly basis. Today, with over 4,000 staffs, Kangnai Group covers an area of 160 mu and each year produces 8 million pairs of leather shoe of which 90% are sold to more than 50 countries and regions in the world. In 2005, with a sales revenue of RMB1.2 billion and US$13 million of export-generated foreign exchange, it became the leader in the Chinese leather shoe making industry. The achievements of the company have been highly recognized by the Party and central government leaders.

Five days passed quickly. During the five days, the journalists traveled several thousands of kilometers on the land of Wuyue, covered 4 press conferences, interviewed 9 companies and institutions and collected much first-hand information on the culture of Zhejiang and local private companies which provide useful materials for them to make more and better reports on China.