U.S. actor Jack Black (L) and German actor Hape Kerkeling pose as they arrive for the screening of the animated film "Kung Fu Panda" in Berlin June 23, 2008. The movie opens in German cinemas on July 3.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    By Li Huizi

    BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- The Kung Fu Panda could be helping to vanquish the curse of China's lacklustre film industry after the country's senior advisors on Friday called for less government control on creativity.

    The box office blockbuster was the center of discussions for a panel meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC) when the head of the China National Peking Opera Company asked, "Why can't we make a cartoon as popular as 'Kung Fu Panda'?"

    After a lengthy philosophical discussion, the members of the Second Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 11th National Committee of the CPPCC decided, like the Kung Fu Panda himself, that "there is no secret ingredient".

    They agreed on a recommendation to the government that it should relax its control in order to accelerate the reform and opening up of the cultural market and to enhance China's cultural influence in the world.

    Created by the bankable directing team of John Stevenson and Mark Osborne, "Kung Fu Panda" has been a box office hit since it premiered on June 19 in Beijing and was released nationwide the following day. It also opened in quake-hit Sichuan Province, home of the panda, the same weekend.

    By Sunday, its box office had exceeded 96.88 million yuan (13.84 million U.S. dollars) in the Chinese mainland.

    Kicking off the discussion, China National Peking Opera Company president Wu Jiang said, "The film's protagonist is China's national treasure and all the elements are Chinese, but why didn't we make such a film?"

    He compared it to another Hollywood cartoon "Mulan", which was also distinctively Chinese in subject. The 1998 Walt Disney feature animation was based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a girl who disguised herself as a man to fight on the battlefield for her father and country.

    "Kung Fu Panda", about a panda in ancient China who becomes an unlikely martial-arts hero, vividly presented Chinese cultural elements such as kung fu, noodles, firecrackers, the distinct landscape, shadowboxing, temple fairs, calligraphy and acupuncture.

    "Many lines in the film contain the sprit of Chinese Zen Buddhism," Wu said.

    Although the film met calls for a boycott from mainland "panda artist" Zhao Bandi to protest its "cultural invasion", it has surpassed the take of any other foreign release in China in the first half of the year.

    Zhao himself later became a target of public criticism for his "shortsighted nationalism" and for "exploiting pandas for his own self-promotion". A graduate of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, he became a self-styled "Panda Man" for his panda-image installations and subway posters.

    CPPCC Standing Committee member Sun Zhonghuan said few domestic firms were willing to sustain the huge risk and budget to make such a film, which features the voices of stars Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu and Hong Kong martial arts superstar Jackie Chan.

    The production of "Kung Fu Panda" took five years and cost more than 130 million U.S. dollars. Its global publicity budget is estimated at 125 million to 150 million U.S. dollars.

    Sun said Chinese film makers generally worked with budgets of about 10 million yuan (1.43 million U.S. dollars) with moderate promotional funds.

    "It's not that we could not produce such a film, but we lack an integrated industry base. In other words, we might have the ideas, but we lack the structure to realize them," he said.

    Sun called for drafting state policies to support cultural creativity, respect talent and create a social atmosphere conducive to innovation.

    CPPCC Standing Committee member Chen Jianguo, producer of a domestically-aired TV opera about an emperor of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), said foreigners were often too ignorant of China's history to understand its TV dramas, presenting an obstacle to global sales.

    Wu said, "We know little about foreigners' views and expectations of the Chinese culture. We should study their viewing habits and psychology. If we can find common points of interest, our cultural products will have greater success."

    He cited the Peking Opera version of Puccini's "Turandot", which toured Poland, Romania, Hungary and other parts of Europe in2004, as an example of cross-cultural success.

    Standing Committee member Tian Congming, former president of Xinhua News Agency, said the international popularity of the classic Chinese work "The Art of War" was an example of worldwide interest in Chinese culture.