JUICY FRUITS: Citizens observe fruits from Taiwan in the Early Harvest Program exhibition at the 2011 (ZHANG GUOJUN)

"Although the sales value on the mainland is a small share for the time being, we are quite confident in the market, the largest aromatic liquor market in the world. We expect sales on the mainland to reach 260 million yuan ($41.13 million) in 2012," Yang told Beijing Review.

Yuan Dean Scientific Co. Ltd. is a Taiwan-based electronics company that sells power converters, LAN filters, transformers, delay line and LED components. Yuan Dean has chosen Xiamen of Fujian as the location of its factory because of the cheap labor and easy access to the mainland market.

"The sales revenue in China accounted for 33 percent of the total in 2011 and the proportion is bound to increase," said Alen Chen, general manager of the company. "Since China is a major manufacturing base for the world, our electronics components have a bright prospective on the mainland."

Learning from Taiwan

Starting this year, the Fujian Provincial Government will allocate 10 million yuan ($1.58 million) annually to promote the development of Taiwan-funded enterprises in the province.

The fund will be used to support the construction of facilities and infrastructure in both state-level and provincial-level Taiwan investment zones in the province, and to subsidize the work of attracting investment from Taiwan. It will also be used to reward local Taiwan-funded enterprises that have produced innovative goods and services and to attract talent from the island.

The animation and cartoon industry in Fujian, for example, had a production value of 5.6 billion yuan ($886.5 million) in 2011, with more than 200 companies and 20,000 employees. Now, the province is determined to develop it into a pillar industry.

Taiwan is famous for its characterized cultural industry, such as the developed entertainment industry, advertising industry, and animation industry. Talents from those sectors will provide more advanced concepts and practices on the mainland.

In 2011, Magical Times created 6,600 minutes of animation and cartoons, two thirds the total output in Fuzhou, which included the new Cool Dog series, Dou Dou Tiger series, and a movie called Wishes of Little Stars with the cooperation of a Taiwan-based digital company. It also hired four Taiwanese senior consultants for creation, brand design and international operations.

In an effort to form an industry chain for animation and cartoons, Magical Times hired a team from Taiwan responsible for the creativity and marketing aspects of the company's key project, the Dou Dou Tiger series.

"They do have a better idea and concept when it comes to image design. Our previous image of Dou Dou Tiger was rather bland. But after the Taiwan team made changes, the image was appealing for our target audience," said Fang Yanhong, PR Manager of Magical Times.

Additionally, due to their experience interacting with other international businesses, they have a head start in terms of international operations, and their business management level and ideas are more advanced than ours, said Fang.

"We want to bring new concepts and innovation to the mainland animation and cartoon industry," said Nieh, head of the Taiwan team. Animation and cartoon companies are small and micro-companies in Taiwan. Their works are broadcast on public television as part of public education, he added. "Taiwanese animation and cartoon companies rely heavily on the international market by selling their overseas copyrights at international exhibitions. But the mainland animation and cartoon sector is much bigger, with a huge potential in the foreseeable future," he said.

The task now is to integrate Taiwan's creativity with the maturing technology of the mainland, so as to add to competitiveness in the international market, said Nieh.