The First China International Cartoon and Digital Arts Week opened Tuesday in Changzhou City in east China's Jiangsu Province.

More than 300 cartoons from 28 countries and regions attended the week-long event, at which a series of activities will be held, including an exhibition, a seminar and a competition.

The event indicated China's cartoon industry has entered a new stage of rapid development, said Lu Jun, director in charge of cultural exchange center of the Ministry of Culture.

Though still in its fledgling stages, China's animation and comic industry is witnessing a growing market, said Lu. Lu noted that currently foreign cartoons occupy 90 percent of the Chinese market, and the entire country has fewer than 10,000 domestic cartoon professionals.

China turned out 29,000 minutes of animation works last year, and processed or reworked another 30,000 minutes of animation works -- including Finding the Nemo and The Lion King -- for Chinese audiences.

In 2003, the world's cartoon industry registered an output value of US$31 billion.
 
(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2004)