The 16th China International Animation Copyright Fair is taking place from August 6 to 10 at ACTIF Center in Shipai Town, Dongguan, a city known as China's Capital of Art Toys.
Cristian Jezdic, an Italian animation producer with more than 30 years of industry experience, is attending the fair for the fifth time. He shared his vision for deeper cultural and industrial cooperation between China and Europe.
Jezdic is a board member of Cartoon Italia, the Italian Association of Animation Producers, and serves as its head of Internationalization. He represents Italy within Animation in Europe and is the founder of YiQi Culture Media, a Guangdong-based company established to connect European creators with Chinese industry players.
For Jezdic, China and Europe are not only business partners, but also two cultural powers with long histories and shared values. After visiting China many times, he decided to establish a local company because "visiting China as a guest was not enough. I wanted to be present."
His understanding of Dongguan has also evolved over the years. On his first trip, he only viewed the city as a manufacturing base. However, after repeated visits to local factories and exchanges with local companies, he realized that Dongguan offers much more than production capacity.
"What impresses me is not the scale. It is the depth," Jezdic said. Behind Dongguan's factories lie generations of knowledge, craftsmanship and experience. This enables creators to transform drawings and ideas into products that can reach consumers around the world.
Jezdic believes these capabilities lay a solid foundation for Chinese companies seeking to take their intellectual properties to overseas markets. While Chinese companies have strong manufacturing, commercialization and supply chain capabilities, their success abroad also requires stories that can travel across cultures and connect emotionally with international audiences.
Europe has centuries-old traditions of storytelling, illustration and design. Jezdic believes bilateral cooperation can combine European narrative experience with China's industrial strengths.
"A story becomes a character, a character becomes an object, an object gathers a community, and a community becomes culture," he said. "A story that never takes physical form reaches only one audience, while an object without a story can be sold once, but it cannot be loved."
In his view, the next stage of globalization is not simply about exporting products or outsourcing production. It is about creating intellectual properties that belong to both cultures from the very beginning.
"Europe is looking at China with more curiosity than ever, and our markets are ready for your stories, not only for your products," Jezdic said.
For him, Dongguan is not only a global manufacturing hub, but also a bridge connecting Chinese and European stories, industries and markets.
Authors: Yao Mingyin, He Qiying
Photos: Yao Mingyin, He Qiying, Cai Zhifeng
Video: Huang Zhengzheng
Design: Sun Peichuan
Planner: Jin Yanming
