by WANG WEI
When a flock of sheep cry ‘wolf’ in China, the money rolls in. The new stars of Chinese animation are edging out old childhood icons like Mickey Mouse and Hello Kitty. Lee Feng
English children grow up with Winnie the Pooh, while in Europe, there are Asterix, Tintin and Diddl Mouse to keep the little ones amused. Another rodent family, Mickey Mouse and friends, has long dominated the American animation world, and the Japanese managed to build an entire empire out of a lipless feline named Hello Kitty. Even Hong Kong has a lovable piglet called McDull that takes trips up the Peak tram.
On the Chinese mainland, it has taken until relatively recently for a few sheep and a big gray wolf to come into their own as characters that Chinese children can totally identify with, and that have the commercial potential and success cartoon characters overseas have long enjoyed.
These furry creatures, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, are hogging the box office and racking in countless millions in film rights merchandising. (Right, they are sheep, but there is no difference between “sheep” and “goat” in the Chinese language.)
There is nowhere you can go in China without bumping into these characters – from the most remote village to the most populated cities.
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This is already an unofficial billion-dollar industry without counting the television revenue and the box-office takings.
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