The 22nd China International Cartoon and Animation Festival opened in Hangzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, on Wednesday.
The five-day event aims to provide enthusiasts and insiders with a cultural feast highlighting the industry's development, digital and intelligent innovation, integration between culture and tourism, and enjoyability for all ages.
With a focus on integrating cartoon and animation with science and technology, tourism, and people's livelihood, the festival has drawn exhibitors and competitors from 31 countries and regions.
Among all participants at the event are 280 cartoon game-related enterprises and institutions from home and abroad, including CCTV Animation Group.
The event also features a dedicated area to promote China's "new cultural trio," namely online literature, online games, and online TV dramas and films, to overseas markets.
The festival is co-hosted by the National Radio and Television Administration, China Media Group and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province, with Baima Lake International Convention and Exhibition Center as the main venue.
22nd China Int'l Cartoon and Animation Festival opens in Hangzhou
Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has announced plans to invest another 200 million yuan (about 29.6 million U.S. dollars) to expand its production lines in north China's Tianjin.
Sprawling across 220,000 square meters inside the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area, the Novo Nordisk Tianjin production site is one of the company's strategic global manufacturing hubs, supplying injection devices and finished pharmaceutical products to China and other markets.
The site has launched several expansion projects in recent years, steadily stepping up the production hub's capacity.
In an interview with China Central Television (CCTV), Novo Nordisk's president and CEO Mike Doustdar said the company is bullish on China's technological strength and market prospects, stressing its accelerated pace of investment in China in recent years.
"We just made a new announcement of extending the factory with another investment of 200 million yuan. Since 2003, we have invested 17 billion yuan and since 2023, we have invested 6 billion yuan. Sixty percent of the manufacturing basically goes to consumption here in China. Forty percent of the production is exported to the rest of the world," said Doustdar.
Beyond expanding production lines, Novo Nordisk also launched China Essentials, an innovation-support program, back in 2020, making it one of the first multinational pharmaceutical companies to carry out localized research and development and manufacturing in China.
The move reflects a broader shift. In recent years, many pharmaceutical companies have not limited themselves to setting up factories in China, rather, they have pivoted toward deeper research and development collaboration with local companies.
"I see it increasingly as fascinating and something the world cannot ignore. Forty-four percent of all new chemical entities that are introduced are actually made in China. Just a couple of years back, it was less than 30 percent. So it's really rapidly increasing," said Doustdar.
According to a report from Bloomberg, cooperation between Chinese and foreign pharmaceutical companies has seen explosive growth since 2026. As of the end of March this year, Chinese pharmaceutical companies accounted for 55 percent of global licensing deals, up from less than 10 percent in 2021.
The numbers show that China is no longer just a market where multinationals hope to sell their products. It is becoming a powerhouse to partner with and emerging as a key player in global pharmaceutical innovation.
Novo Nordisk ramps up investment in China, highlighting country's technological strengths
