New | China Animation's Shanghai theme park rides Chinese cultural wave

China Animation Group, a Shenzhen-based animation firm due to list on Hong Kong's stock market soon, has joined the fray against giants Disney and DreamWorks by tapping Shanghai residents' increasing spending on entertainment activities as it launched an indoor amusement park in the city.

The Shanghai Joypolis, located at the city shopping centre Shanghai Global Harbour with a total investment of 176 million yuan (HK$220 million), will take on Disney's 30 billion yuan amusement park expected to open near the Pudong airport later this year and DreamWorks' theme park Dream Centre that cost 20 billion yuan on the eastern bank of Huangpu River.

Zhuang Shengsong, the chairman of China Animation, said the mainland's stepped-up efforts to boost native cultural products would be a main driving force for the company to enhance competitiveness.

"Young people in China's top cities are willing to spend more on entertainment and cultural products," Zhuang told the South China Morning Post. "As the government fine-tunes laws and regulations to protect copyright, domestic firms like us will be inspired to create our own cartoon characters and derivative products to woo customers."

Beijing is determined to increase the country's "soft power" as it aims to wield influence in the culture and ideological fields around the globe.

The central government either doles out funds to support domestic animation firms or rolls out incentives such as granting them time slots on state-owned television channels to broadcast or promote the country's television dramas or films at a time when US movies such as Kung Fu Panda attracted millions of Chinese fans.