China's animation festival draws visitors with unique blend with cultural tourism

The 21st China International Cartoon and Animation Festival (CICAF), running from May 29 to June 2 in Hangzhou City of east China's Zhejiang Province, is drawing crowds of visitors with its innovative fusion with local cultural tourism.

The "Watch Sun Wukong’s 72 Transformations" activities, a key part of the festival, are being held across 12 sub-venues in Hangzhou, offering visitors an immersive experience.

Sun Wukong, or the Monkey King, is the main character of the classic Chinese novel "Journey to the West", who had the ability to transform into 72 different forms. The recent popular Chinese video game "Black Myth: Wukong" is inspired by the novel.

At the Xixi National Wetland in Hangzhou, one of the festival's sub-venues, organizers have seamlessly blended animation elements with the Xixi International Dragon Boat Cultural Festival, a prominent event held during the Duanwu, or the Dragon Boat Festival, which is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. This year, Duanwu Festival falls on May 31.

At the wetland, an animation-themed dragon boat parade was introduced, showcasing characters from the "Black Myth: Wukong" and the festival's mascot, Lele. These iconic characters interacted with both locals and tourists along the shore, adding an exciting dimension to the cultural celebration

"This is the first time the Xixi Wetland Park is hosting a sub-venue for the cartoon and animation festival, and we have prepared plenty of activities for visitors. They can enjoy dry-land dragon boat races, interact with NPCs (non-player characters) and comic characters, and we welcome everyone to join us," said Wu Jingwen, a tour guide of the wetland park.

At the sub-venue in Shangcheng District, located near the iconic West Lake, the local shopping area has innovatively combined a variety of business models, creating an immersive experience that seamlessly blends entertainment, art and culture.

"We have launched a variety of immersive activities around the theme of 'Animation and Cultural Tourism,' such as cosplay exhibitions, themed markets, and comic events. The overall response has been very positive, with daily foot traffic in the district increasing by about 20 percent compared to previous editions," said Xu Lijin, a staff member of the Hubin sub-district government office.

At the sub-venue in Wulin 921 Digital Cultural Industry Park, activities such as cosplay parades, comic book exhibition and a creative farmers’ market have drawn large crowds of visitors.

The "Watch Sun Wukong’s 72 Transformations" activities will run through the end of June, with 12 sub-venues hosting 60 activities, offering an animation extravaganza that caters to all ages.

China's animation festival draws visitors with unique blend with cultural tourism

UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher announced on Friday that he is allocating up to 60 million U.S. dollars from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to accelerate the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the wider region.

"We need to get ahead of this Ebola outbreak," Fletcher said in a statement.

While the humanitarian community is fully mobilized, he said, "the epidemiological context is challenging: there are not yet licensed vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain."

Noting that these are some of the most difficult operating environments in the world for the life-saving work, with conflict and high population movement, Fletcher said the United Nations is working to secure safe and sustained access for frontline responders, including to areas controlled by armed groups.

"It is essential that there is no obstruction of our response. We must have access to all routes -- air, land and water -- across the affected areas," he said.

The UN relief chief underscored that containment depends on fast, coordinated action at the community level, stressing the importance of strong communication with governments, and effective early warning and detection systems.

Fletcher said he is in close contact with UN humanitarian coordinators and the teams in the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan, and more staff from key UN agencies and partners are being deployed this weekend to reinforce the effort.

In addition, the World Food Programme (WFP) is scaling up its emergency operations in eastern DRC to assist the government, the World Health Organization, and other partners in containing the spread of the Ebola outbreak as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, the UN Humanitarian Air Service is working to repair damaged airport facilities and is adding new flight routes to ensure that relief workers and critical supplies reach target areas as quickly as possible.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters that relief efforts need multiple conditions on top of medical treatment.

"Containing Ebola requires more than treatment alone, WFP says. It requires food, it requires access, it requires transport and it requires logistics so frontline teams can move fast and affected families can safely follow public health measures," he said.

UN allocates 60 mln USD to accelerate response to Ebola outbreak in DRC