'Pointless' to ban foreign animation
Mickey Mouse, Batman, X-Men, Dragon Ball - the world of animations is dominated by American and Japanese productions.
And their popularity extends beyond national boundaries and becomes the stuff of international trade, generating revenue and expanding cultural influences.
Academics and cultural critics said protectionism and minimising foreign cultural influences were the driving forces behind the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television's one-hour extension of a prime-time ban on foreign cartoons and its demand that local television stations seek approval before broadcasting them.
But the ban was doomed to be counterproductive in terms of raising the competitiveness of local animation houses, they said.
The best way to raise the standard of Chinese cartoons and make them able to compete with their international counterparts was to nurture the creativity of the youth instead of restricting their choices.
The effectiveness of the ban has also been questioned because people will still have access to foreign animation via the internet and pirated DVDs.
Chan Koon-chung, a Beijing-based cultural critic, said: 'The order will help the sales of Chinese animations only if they are of high quality.
'The problem is the standard of Chinese animations is far behind international standards,' he said.
'Nurturing creativity is the answer to the problem but to do so, the government has to allow children to be free to choose the cartoons they want to watch.'
Zhan Jiang , head of the China Youth University for Political Sciences' news and media department, said: 'It is protectionism, because if given the choice, television stations will broadcast foreign cartoons instead of local productions.
'But with the ban, TV stations will be forced to buy homegrown cartoons.
'Those who made this decision are probably old people who don't watch cartoons and they see cartoons as a cultural product, worrying foreign productions will bring negative influence to Chinese youth,' Professor Zhan added.
He said that he thought the protectionist order would only generate discontent domestically and internationally.
'We are living in a globalised world. The government must be cautious when issuing any bans. It should let the people see as much as possible,' he said.
