Animation is China is an often overlooked artistry,
over time the industry has experienced incredibly highs
and unimaginable lows.
Artists who were celebrated one month
were then persecuted the next.
Throughout the years there
there have been countless incredible stories in this field,
this is a brief history of Chinese animation.
The story of Chinese animation begins
during the war between China and Japan
with four siblings affectionately referred to the wan brothers.
Wan Chaochen, Wan Dihuan,
and the twins Wai Laiming and Guchan
were born in Nanjing at the dawn of the 20th Century
After much experimentation,
they first produced an animated advertisement
for the Shanghai Commercial press
titled Su Zhendong’s Chinese Typewriter in 1922
After fleeing the Japanese occupation of Shanghai,
the twins Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan
began their work creating the first animated feature in Asia,
the renowned Princess Iron-fan.
The final phase of production was completed back in Shanghai
and was released in 1941.
The film adapted chapters from the Chinese classic
Journey to the West
and utilised and animation process called Roto scoping
where live action film was painted over
to create cheap and smooth animation.
Princess Iron-fan received stellar reviews internationally
Most notably was the reception received from their then enemy Japan.
Despite carrying slight undertones of anti-Japanese sentiment,
the film became a hit
and Japanese animation studios
quickly rushed to create their own feature length animation
which was completed three years later.
Osamu Tezuka the father of modern Japanese manga,
anime and the creator of Astroboy,
is often said to have been greatly influenced by Disney,
but he has said many times
that the Wan Brothers film also played a huge role in his life’s work.
After the war ended with Japan,
the Chinese civil war continued on
and the twin Wan brothers travelled to Hong Kong
to start their next project.
They ultimately failed to generate enough funding
but upon their return to the main land
they found that the animation industry was growing faster than ever.
After the civil war and during the 1950’s
the animation industry was flourishing,
but critics claimed that it was unable to separate itself
as something uniquely Chinese.
The 1955 short film why the Crow is Black
received many awards internationally,
but was actually mistook as a Russian film
during one award ceremony.
This began to change when Mao Zedong launched
launched the 100 flowers campaign
a movement which called for artists
to voice their criticisms of the government,
celebrate their culture
and push China into the international stage.
Te Wei produced the acclaimed short “the conceited general”
which was the first step towards
developing China’s iconic styles.
The hundred flowers campaign
was unable to withstand critics and failed horribly,
but it help launch golden age of Chinese animation.
Embracing Chinese traditional artistry,
Pigsy Eats a Watermelon
was the first animated short using Chinese paper cutting
Te Wei created another critically acclaimed hit
with where is Mama?
Incorporating the uniquely Chinese ink wash painting style.
Then in 1961,
the Wan brothers’ work culminated in the timeless feature,
Havok in Heaven.
Following Te Wei,
the film took heavy inspiration from Beijing Opera
and told the story of Sun Wukong’s
first encounters with the Jade Emperor.
Released in two parts,
the film was enthusiastically received throughout the world
winning numerous awards.
The film was initially celebrated in China
for its artistry and revolutionary attitude,
but the film’s success,
and the freedom of all animators was short lived.
In 1966 Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution
as an attempt at purging China from all capitalist
and traditionalist ideologies.
Following Mao’s claim that art should reflect
the class-struggle and life of the people
almost all animations were banned
and a large majority were destroyed.
Havoc in Heaven
which just a few months ago was heralded as a masterpiece
was now banned and no longer considered true art.
As the focus heavily on culture,
China's once app-lorded animators
were sent to reeducation camps
Te Wei spent his time feeding pigs,
and being forced to write self criticisms.
Under such restrictive and harsh conditions,
the Chinese Animation industry was brought to a screeching halt
with nothing but crude propaganda films
being created for the next 10 years.
This was not the end of animation in China though,
as they say tragedy breeds creativity.
At the end of the Cultural Revolution
with animators returning to their passions,
a huge number of genre defining films were created.
While the Wan brothers did not return to their careers as before,
Chinese Animation stormed back on the scene
with Nezha conquers the dragon king
winning multiple awards internationally
and is still considered a masterpiece of Chinese animation.
Films such A deer of nine colours,
the deer bell’s,
Lao Mountain Taoist, and three monks
simultaneously impressed audiences
and subtly criticised their previous persecutors.
Te wei after his long awaited returned
produced his magnum opus,
The Feeling from Mountain and Water.
There were still a great deal of animations
that focused heavily on nationalism,
but these were more reflections on the past
than total propaganda.
For the next 10 years
Chinese animation was seemingly back on track
and started to grow again,
the problem was
that in the meantime
everyone else had become fully grown.
While China experienced multiple imposed hiatuses
in the development of animation,
the rest of the world had continued to raise the industry standard
and audience expectations.
So By the time Deng Xiao ping opened China
to rest of the world at the end of the 1970s,
the influx of Western and Japanese animation
made Chinese animation look outdated by comparison.
from the 1990s onwards
animators now found much more profitable
to work as animation outsources
for western studios
than in creating original Chinese animations
this coupled with the government policy restrictions
meant that creativity once again became stagnant in China.
That’s not to say that there was nothing being made,
television became more prominent within the industry
with cartoons such as the black cat detective,
calabash brothers, pleasant goat and the big bad wolf,
and more recently the Boonie bears
gaining recognition and generating impressive profits,
but the largest majority of Chinese cartoons struggle
to find an audience outside of China.
The future of Chinese animation is still uncertain,
but it does seem to heading in the right direction.
Since 2004, The Chinese government
has slowly come to realise the importance of animation
as a cultural export
and as such has begun to invest somewhat
in animation technologies.
Collaborations and partnerships with overseas studios
has helped Chinese studios learn the management skills
necessary to create films for the international market.
Online platforms have given new young artists
a place to grow,
hone their skills
and experiment in ways that have not been demonstrated before.
So it seems that China is just one step away
from entering the big leagues.
But there are multiple factors to consider in the coming future,
salaries have increased
meaning that outsourcing to China is becoming impractical,
government restrictions on content limit artistic vision,
and a focus on quantity rather than quality
creates many issues to overcome,
but as the industry continues to develop
and gain domestic recognition,
it is one step closer to finally earning it’s place
on the international stage.
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