GUANGZHOU: The first-ever China International Comics Festival will take place in this southern city from Sept 29 to Oct 6, and be overlapped by the second-annual Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macao Anime Comics and Games Expo.

"Guangzhou has its advantage to hold such a high-level international event of the booming comics industry," said Xu Zhibiao, vice-mayor of Guangzhou.

According to Xu, a number of renowned comic artists from the mainland and abroad will be invited to attend the comics festival.

"The software-and-comics industry in Guangzhou is playing a leading role on the mainland, with an annual investment of up to 180 million yuan," Xu said.

Currently, Guangzhou's production value of its cartoon-and-animation industry accounts for nearly 20 percent of the mainland's total, Xu said.

Guangzhou also has more than 100 companies engaged in the comics-and-animation industry, with more than 10 comics-training institutes.

"Moreover, with a good location, sitting beside Hong Kong and Macao, it is more convenient for Guangzhou to cooperate with and learn from the two comics giants in the animation-and-comics field," Xu said.

As part of the cooperation between the three cities, the Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macao Anime Comics and Games Expo will become an annual event after its successful debut last year.

The event last year in Guangzhou attracted more than 100,000 visitors from Oct 3-7.

To be held from Oct 2-6, this year's expo will heavily feature the Beijing Olympics and the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games, according to the expo organizers.

Also, a number of comic artists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have set up their work studios in Guangzhou to help the city develop comic talents, according to Xu.

(HK Edition 05/19/2008 page2)