In the chill of early spring, the bookstores on Wangfujing Street in Peking are packed with people. The long line of people waiting for the signature of the author nearly obliterates the slight, long-haired Taiwan animator Tsai Chih-chung.

Since "hitting the beach" in mainland China in 1989, Tsai Chih-chung's comic books have sold nearly 10 million copies. The Peking television station has even animated and added sound to The Sayings of Zhuang Zi, making it into a television cartoon broadcast twice a week.

Besides going to the mainland, his cartoon books have also been translated into 18 languages, published in more than ten countries in Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and even in Russia and Eastern Europe.

Two years ago, a cartoon advertisement appeared in the cars of the Tokyo subway system, which used the techniques of Chinese water and ink paintings done in a delicately wrought realist style to depict the story of heroes of the Eastern Chou dynasty. This poster not only struck those who saw it, it also made an impact on the minds of Japan's comic book set.

"We received nearly a thousand letters from readers in the first week, "excitedly says "Legenclary Heroes of the Chou Dynasty" author--and Taiwan's own--Cheng Wen. "After having been creating for nine years, the fruits of the first attempt in Japan were sweet."

"What kind of spectacle will the zero gravity city be?" Battened down at the drawing table, Hu Chueh-lung, facing the English-language script, carefully gropes through the science fiction world of the future.

Hu, whose pen name is "Kid Jerry," took part in the San Diego Comics Exhibition two years ago, and by chance ran across Scott Savvadra, script writer for Disney. The two began to work together on a comic book. "There was no precedent for this transnational creative model of an American script with a Chinese doing the animation," says Hu, who is 26.

Although the methods differ, in recent years many animators have independently had the same idea to explore the foreign scene and seek an even broader stage on which to give play to their talents. Besides the four-frame long animated stories of Tsai Chih-chung, Cheng Wen, and Hu Chueh-lung, the entertaining and mirthful single-frame cartoons "Diary of a Madman" and "Crazy Animal Talk" by the animator Hsiao Yen-chung are carried in more than 800 papers and magazines in the United States. There are even more Taiwan comics on the racks of booksellers in East Asian nations like Singapore, Hongkong, and Korea.

An increase of readers 6OO times over: The main reasons local cartoonists' thoughts drift to other nations include higher pay and royalties, larger markets, a great deal of room for expression, and up-to-date business systems.

"When I was younger I heard the older generation say that a Japanese animator had to do only three pages to earn a month's pay; it was like the Arabian Nights," relates Tsai Chih-chung. He has been drawing comics since the age of 15, and has always been determined to publish his work abroad, and because of this he became the first animator to make a dent in the international market.

As of the present, editions have appeared in Japanese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian, English, and French. Last year, Czechoslovakia, Russia, and Hungary all acquired the translation rights to The Sayings of Lao Zi and The Sayings of Zhuang Zi.

A broad publishing network naturally means abundant sources of royalties. He states, "For the last two years, most of my income has come from Taiwan royalties. But starting this year, the royalties from abroad will take first place, with mainland China alone approaching NT$30 million."

Compared to Tsai, the incomes of the other cartoonists are far behind. But they still make a lot more from foreign markets than they do at home.

"In terms of the publishing volume, the most any issue of an animated publication can print in Taiwan is five to ten thousand permonth. A relatively well-known Japanese weekly prints over one million copies," compares Cheng Wen. For example, the Afternoon comics weekly which carries his "Legendary Heroes of the Eastern Chou Dynasty" strip publishes nearly six million copies. "In other words, besides an increase in writers' fees, the number of readers increases 600 fold, and naturally there is greater feedback than in Taiwan."

More than a comic strip: What's even more gratifying is the Japanese attitude of respect for the animators. Cheng Wen says that when he participates in the promotional activities his publisher holds for him, they call him "Maestro" and give him the red carpet treatment, giving him the feeling of being treated with respect. Last year, moreover, he won the "outstanding performance" award given out by the Japanese Animators Association as a sign of admiration for his work.

Compare this coddling to the loneliness and disappointment of being labelled a "scribbler of cartoons" when he was issuing "The Sword of Ah Bi" in Taiwan: "I didn't receive ten letters from readers in two years." No wonder today Cheng Wen warns his successors: "Learn the basics in Taiwan, but go abroad to grow."

As for Hu Chueh-lung devoting himself to the US market, besides the novelty of the method of cooperation satisfying his youthful curiosity and desire for the new and the different, he also points out that, "The writers' fees paid by US publishers are several times those paid in Taiwan." Moreover, the English-language market encompasses the three major markets of the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom, so you can imagine the income from royalties. "And they can always be brought back into the Asian market through translation." He doesn't hesitate to recite the businessman's creed.

"In fact, the professionalized business style of American publishers, who handle things according to the contract and make clear and precise demands, appeals to me even more," Hu explains. In a thick contract, the contents include not only the various conditions of cooperation, they also require Hu to make out a detailed time schedule, "including how many work days for one drawing, how many drawings between vacation or rest days, and even when one might get ill; all of these must be weighed. Thereafter work must be done on schedule, and there is a fine for delays." This exacting style has allowed him to reform his former disorganized working habits.

Complementary factors home and abroad: Although the scale and professionalism of overseas markets are key factors in enticing animators to go abroad to develop, if you look carefully at this trend, the larger domestic and external environments are also complementary.

"Although animation is highly developed and there is a great deal of talent in the US and Japan, after several decades of development, they have run up against bottlenecks in creative formats and in contents, so many publishers are consequently racking their brains to come up with ways to attract fresh blood and shake up the market," points out the local senior animator Hung Teh-lin.

For example, the various trade publications put out by Japan's Kodansha company will from time to time report information and the current situation of Taiwan's cartoon industry. "Several years ago that company even sent a reporter on a special visit to Taiwan, and came out with a special volume called A Plan of Attack for Taiwan Cartoons. It gave detailed introductions of Taiwan's animators. Now that's really something." This book has become the guidebook for Japanese animation companies to come "head-hunting" in Taiwan.

What's the situation at home? "As early as the 1960's, the era when Chu Ko Ssu-lang, Chen Ping and Great Aunt were popular, quite a few cartoonists thought of expanding abroad. Of the places to go, the most attractive was Japan, the 'Comics Kingdom,' which is also geographically convenient," says Hung Teh-lin. Nevertheless, because the themes were excessively localized, it was impossible to attract the interest of Japanese publishers. "At that time only Wang Chao-chi, the depicter of the Yasen Luopin detective stories, successfully made a submission. It's a pity that at that time it was very hard to get out of the country, and in the end he didn't go to Japan to progress."

Also, because of the occurrence of a news story of a small child who had read a wu-hsia comic (a traditional tale of a wandering martial arts hero) and went into the mountains to seek out gods and martial arts masters, comic books came under attack from a great many people in society. This led to the Ministry of Education implementing a strict review system for animated publications in 1967, and a number of animators "retreated into the shadows" as a result; the remainder worked under restraint, and creativity was limited. With no one even contesting the throne in Taiwan, steps to broaden operations outside the island naturally came to a halt. Thereafter, the domestic comics market became the province of pirat ed Japanese publications to an even greater degree.

A new high tide in cartooning: This situation persisted right up until about 1980, when society gradually opened up and comic books came to be seen as an integral part of mass culture. After years of struggle by cartoonists, the review standards were relaxed, and "the print media provided opportunities for growth, giving domestic cartoons a new lease on life," notes Hung Teh-lin. For example, the China Times and the United Daily News (the two largest papers) both expanded their funnies sections, and a great variety of new specialized animated publications appeared, attracting new people to the field.

It was at this time that Tsai Chih-chung again took up his pen, creating the four-frame comic strips "The Drunkard" and "The Bald Detective." Ao You-hsiang, Hsiao Yen-chung, Cheng Wen, and Chu Teh-yung all entered the ranks of animators in this wave, and all left their mark.

Compared to the previous generation, the cultural background of this new generation outgrew the limits of localization in the wake of the internationalization of Taiwan's economy and culture.

"In my case, for example, I grew up watching Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Superman and Batman from the United States, and "The Good Little Boy" and "Weird Doctor Chin" from Japan," explains Hu Chueh-lung. There were foreign television series and films everywhere you looked, giving young cartoonists no shortage of channels to understand and absorb these different cultures. In his work Black and White Club the clothing and the settings all incorporate the fashion of 1950's America.

Besides internationalization, "Taiwan's animators mostly graduated from fine arts schools, so their drawing techniques are very sound," suggests Cheng Wen. This is another asset for domestic cartoonists. For example, he graduated from the Fuhsing Trade and Arts School, and in his early days he had to turn in an average of 90 pieces per month while doing drawings to accompany stories in the print media, giving him a firm foundation. Hsiao Yen-chung, Hu Chueh-lung, and he all came out of the same school.

Too much technique, not enough creativity: Still, compared to the superabundance of technique among Taiwan's animators, it seems that there is inadequate creativity or cultivation. Cheng Wen contends that the younger generation of artists are often unable to break away from the influence of foreign animation, and they are weak in both the thought that goes into their work and their social observation skills, so it is harder to break into the foreign market.

"There are, to lowball the figure, more than 20,000 Japanese animators. If you just follow them and draw cute girls with big eyes and long hair, why would the publishers need to spend all that effort to cross the seas to see you?" asks Cheng Wen, continuing, "If you can't figure out what's similar and what's different about the other culture, how can you come up with good themes and win the acceptance of international readers?"

In fact, this is the reason why some cartoonists who are quite well known in Taiwan have been unable to crack the international market.

Lily Chen, chairman of the Big Apple Tuttle Mori Agency, who is very interested in representing and selling domestic animated works abroad, takes for example the work of Chu Teh-yung or Lao Chiung, who lampoon the Chinese views on love and marriage: because they are especially localized, overseas publishers can neither understand nor accept them. Meanwhile, "the materials that Hsiao Yen-chung takes from children's stories of the world for 'Shortcut Nursery Tales' as well as 'Boggled Brain' published by the China Times are both relatively in tune with American humor," she concludes.

Modern sales pitch: In addition, an ambition to succeed and a marketing strategy are both decisive factors.

Tsai Chih-chung is a case in point. Putting his mind to the international market, since 1982 he has at the same time contracted to produce cartoon commercials in Hongkong, Singapore, and the Philippines. His several animated films--The Old Stick-in-the-Mud, Oolong Hall, and The Colorful Old Stick-in-the-Mud--have been mainly for the Southeast Asian market. The animated enterprises that he later focussed on were even more in this vein.

In 1983, his return work, "The Drunkard," was carried simultaneously in Taiwan, Hongkong, and Singapore papers. With an eye on the Hongkong market, he deliberately chose stars like Mai Chia and Hung Chin-pao, familiar to Hongkong audiences, as subjects, doing the strips "The Bald Detect ive" and "The Fat Dragon Crosses the River."

In order to realize his dream of getting into the Japanese comics market, at the end of 1984 he brought someone in to translate his work into Japanese at his own expense, and personally went to Japan to submit them. "Fortunately at that time I had the title of 'director' of a cartoon company, so I could directly talk with those in charge at the comic book publishers," relates Tsai. Add to this that his topics, The Sayings of Lao Zi, and The Sayings of Zhuang Zi, suited the perpetual Japanese appetite for the Chinese classics, and the result is that he became the first Chinese animator to publish his own text in Japan.

It is likely that those hereafter taking this type of journey can, with the rise of the local publishing rights and publishing agent system, save a great deal of energy.

Specialized agents taking the burden: In order to promote sales, these specialized agents take the author's work on "whirlwind tours," make the rounds at all kinds of international shows and exhibits, and increase the opportunities for the publications to get out in front of the foreign publishing community. In the case of Cheng Wen, his "fated match" with Japan was a result of Lin Ming-chu, the director of Chun Ma Publishing, going door to door three years ago carrying over 200 local animated works, out of which Japan's Kodansha company sagely noticed his.

Hu Chueh-lung and Hsiao Yen-chung found their cooperative opportunities when they followed the China Times Publishing Company and the Rolling Stone company, which acts as the local agent for the American Mad magazine, to San Diego to take part in a cartoon exhibition.

Overall, although at present the numbers of these cartoons are not up to adding another page to the list of famous export products from Taiwan, the export specialists, at least they can help a bit to level off the huge "comic book deficit" in the face of a domestic cartoon market that eats up foreign works.

[Picture Caption]

After many years of hard work, Taiwan cartoons have finally broken into foreign markets.

Cheng Wen's "Legendary Heroes of the Eastern Chou" has swept Japan using a very Sinified style.

Entering the Japanese market, Cheng Wen has gone from being a "doodler of cartoons" to a "maestro."

The strict requirements of the American comics industry have caused the youthful Hu Chueh-lung to change his previous laggard work habits.

The empty speech bubbles in Hu Chueh-lung's drawings will be filled in in English by the American script writer.

Tsai Chih-chung is the local animator who has been most aggressive in opening up the foreign market; today his works appear in eighteen languages.

The main reason why Tsai Chih-chung's works have been so successful in the international market is his choice of Chinese classics like "Zhuang Zi" and "Lao Zi" as subject matter.

The habit of reading comics is widespread overseas, which is a major inducement for Taiwan animators to look abroad. The photo is a scene from Hong Kong. (photo by Diago Chiu)

Cheng Wen's "Legendary Heroes of the Eastern Chou" has swept Japan using a very Sinified style.

Entering the Japanese market, Cheng Wen has gone from being a "doodler of cartoons" to a "maestro.".

The strict requirements of the American comics industry have caused the youthful Hu Chueh-lung to change his previous laggard work habits.

The empty speech bubbles in Hu Chueh-lung's drawings will be filled in in English by the American script writer.

Tsai Chih-chung is the local animator who has been most aggressive in opening up the foreign market; today his works appear in eighteen languages.

The main reason why Tsai Chih-chung's works have been so successful in the international market is his choice of Chinese classics like "Zhuang Zi" and "Lao Zi" as subject matter.

The habit of reading comics is widespread overseas, which is a major inducement for Taiwan animators to look abroad. The photo is a scene from Hong Kong. （photo by Diago Chiu）