Shanghai Daily news

Changning District wants to play a leading role in the development of the city's burgeoning multimedia industry, Lu Jiye, vice-director of the district said during an awards ceremony at the Third Shanghai International Computer Graphics competition, last Friday.
The event was held in the Shanghai Multimedia Park, which is actually a single office building devoted to the industry in Changning District.
The park has been a symbol of the district's development in the digital technology sector since it opened in 2002.
Several well-known multimedia companies have developed in the park, including UTStarcom, Target Media and Shanghai Foremost Multimedia Co Ltd.
"The function of the park is more than simply renting out office space. It helps to search for the market and provide technical facilities for free," said Lu.
The district and municipal governments have invested 12 million yuan (US$1.45 million) to install flash software on computers on the 11th floor of the building.
To lower the risks for start-up companies, the park introduced Shanghai Multimedia Park Venture Co Ltd and Shanghai Zhaofeng Enterprising and Investment Co Ltd to help raise funds and develop the market.
"As multimedia has already become popular elsewhere in the world, like Japan and South Korea, we need to enhance our industry so as not to lag behind," said Lu.
To help the sector develop quickly, the district will broadcast TV programs over the Internet to 12,000 households around Gubei Community, an expat-intensive area, next month. The programs will be supplied by a local television station.
In the future, the programs will be broadcast to every home in the district, officials said.
People can watch TV over the Web at any time, without having to worry about when the shows are being broadcast.
The district's ambitions go beyond moving TV viewers to the Internet, however. It is developing technology that will allow people to watch TV shows on their mobile phones.
"We want to spread multimedia technology to every aspect of people's lives," said Lu.
The district is also renovating several old factories on Kaixuan Road to make space for more multimedia companies.
Multimedia companies generated profits of 150 million yuan in the district last year.
The annual Shanghai International Computer Graphics competition, started in 2003, helps to promote multimedia technology, especially among youngsters.
About 3,000 works from around the world took part in this year's competition and many talented youngsters attended the event.
"Producing a flash animation is really tedious work," said Zhang Yinan, who along with two of his classmates from Tongji University won the competition's top award for university innovations. "But people will feel quite satisfied when finishing one," he said.