ABOUT SUNCHIME CARTOON

As the leading computer animation research and development company in China，Sunchime Cartoon Group has established the largest digital animation production studio in China. Its flagship animation TV series program “3000 Whys of Blue Cat” has made the educational cartoon program a great success and thus received great attention from the world animation industry.

In 2003, Sunchime produced 11,000 minutes of its animated Blue Cat program, accounting for approximately 70% of the national total, covering a variety of topics such as humor, dinosaurs, the ocean, and learning English. There are another 1,600 educational programs featuring the Blue Cat character. Sunchime is also planning to make new 3D animation TV series,“Green Ark”and new characters.

The Blue Cat programs have been aired on more than 1000 TV stations across China. In addition, after repackaging and remixing the programs for localization, the Blue Cat programs are now being broadcast in several overseas markets, including Hongkong, Taiwan, USA, South Korea and Indonesia.

Sunchime's image of itself as an icon of Chinese culture is consistently reinforced through the penetration of the cartoon empire into every aspect of children life. Operating as digital art empire, Suchime shapes children's experiences through a maze of representations and products found in cartoon television programs, home videos, books, CDs, kid’s cloth & shoes, toys, beverage, grocery & candy, online games, retail stores and theme parks. Through the widespread use of public visual space, Sunchime inserts itself into a network of power relations that promotes the construction of a closed and total world of enchantment allegedly free from the dynamics of digital “Educon” (education & entertainment) industry.

Sunchime’s success has also been based on its nation-wide distribution network for video and print publications, and derived products. This network is made up of regional sales companies, which are jointly owned by Sunchime and are licensed manufacturers and authorized brand retailers.

Sunchime has also done well in the development of derived products. It now runs dozens of specialized companies and produces over 6,000 varieties of derived products.

Suchime is energetically developing its image as a kid brand and kid industry. For example, in what can be seen as an extraordinary venture, Sunchime plans to construct in the next few years a chain of children’s book stores, “Blue Cat Happy Book Store”, that its development program proclaims will “serve as a model for children’s book publishing industry in future.”

The boundaries between entertainment, education and commercialization collapse through the sheer omnipotence of Sunchime’s reach into diverse spheres of everyday life of Chinese kids. The scope of the Sunchime cartoon industry reveals both shrewd business practices as well as a sharp eye for providing dreams and products through forms of digital art and popular culture of in which kids are willing to materially and emotionally invest.

At the same time, Sunhime goes to great lengths to boost its civic image. Defining itself as a vehicle for education and civic responsibility, Sunchime sponsors “National Children’s Writing and Drawing Award” and “Blue Cat Summer Camp”, provides “Blue Cat hotline” scholarships to student.