The 11th Xiamen International Animation Festival began in the city in Fujian province Nov 15.

A series of activities are being staged at the four-day festival, including the Xiamen International Animation and Game Business Conference, an award ceremony for the Cyber Sousa animation competition, and an animation and game exhibition.

The business conference, held from Nov 15 to 16, attracted nearly 1,000 participants from 16 countries and regions, and Mike Myhre, director of popular television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, and president of Global Comic.Com in Japan, shared their opinions at the conference on win-win cooperation between the Chinese and foreign animation industries.

Some 46 renowned animation companies from Finland, Canada, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam sought cooperation with local companies during the conference.

The animation competition received 2,662 entries from 54 countries and regions, 55 of which stood out to carry off a prize, including five foreign films.

An exhibition of international animation character models, an important part of the animation and game exhibition to be held from Nov 17 to 18, will showcase more than 60 animation character models, including Hulkbuster, Hulk, Iron Man and Spider-Man.

A comic marathon will also be staged during the animation and game exhibition, seven renowned cartoonists from members of the Association Of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Nguyen Thanh Phong from Vietnam, Ben Wong and Nor Azril from Malaysia and Josef Lee from Singapore, will be invited to finish a 100-meter comic wall with Chinese anime illustrators.

Animation and game industries in Xiamen have seen prosperous development over the past year when the two industries generated 13.5 billion yuan ($2 billion), up by 13 percent year-on-year, and 151 such companies were launched in the city.