CRI听力:China International Comics and Games Expo Opens in Shanghai, Originality Urged for Industry De

At 9 am on opening day, cartoon and video game fans flocked into Shanghai's World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center to enjoy the fandom as soon as it kicked off.

More than 300 exhibitors participated in this year's expo, the largest in the event's history.

However, He Yu, an organizer of the expo, said domestic exhibitors are not the majority.

"The percentage of local cartoon exhibitors at the fair is less than 50%. There are more foreign cartoon brands because of the general preference of the fans here."

The situation doesn't seem to compete with the fast growing market in China.

Last year, domestic animation films earned north of one billion yuan, almost twice as much as in 2013.

This summer, a total of 13 Chinese animated films will open in Chinese theatres, a 60-percent increase compared with the same period last year.

Despite the large quantity of works, observers suggest that industry employees should pay more attention to quality.

The most recent example is "The Autobots", an animation about transformable automobiles.
The animation was accused of ripping off Disney-Pixar's 'Cars'.

It is not the first time that domestic filmmakers have been accused of plagiarism.

Shi Wen, a visitor to the expo, shared his thoughts on the matter.

"I also saw similar copying issues with a domestic cartoon about robot fighters. It made me feel that some domestic cartoon makers lack good ideas."

Some domestic cartoon developers say that writers often want to imitate successful films to ensure the popularity of the ones they make, which actually hinders creativity.

Shi Ting, a staff member of VJ Animation Studio, says developers should try to learn more about their own market.

"When we cooperated with overseas cartoon makers, we found they are very good at doing market research. Producers collected ideas before doing the project. That helps developers know what children are thinking about, and what images or plots they like," said Shi Ting, staff member of VJ Animation Studio.

Some domestic cartoon producers say that further intellectual property laws would encourage filmmakers to be more creative.

The 2015 China International Comics and Games Expo runs until Monday.

For CRI, I'm Luo Wen.