MORE than 20 expat students in Qingdao participated in Qingdao’s first cartoon and animation competition featuring blue Qingdao.

“The sea in Qingdao is the same as we have in California and I love swimming in blue sea,” an American student named Andrew said while drawing for the competition. He has been living in China for more than three years and speaks fluent Chinese.

The competition started to collect works from applicants in September and more than 200 works from enterprises, schools, universities and artists have been received. There is also a corporate applicant from New Zealand.

More than 20 expat students from the United States, Japan, South Korea and Germany have a passion for Qingdao and the sea.

The competition is divided into two sections, cartoon works — which will be subdivided into short cartoons and single cartoon work — as well as animation works, which will be 15-to-30-second public service advertisements featuring the sea. The works should be capable of spreading marine scientific knowledge, said Sun Baigang, the association head. (Jane Lai, Wang Ping)