The influence of the Chinese social background/culture on the animation industry and the future development trend of Chinese animation

Monkey King (2015) and Nezha(2019) : Chinese animation and its cultural, social and historical backgrounds.
Tianyang Zhang
Animation
THE BOOST OF CHINESE ANIMATION IN RECENT YEARS
Rick Warren once said, “Those that innovate the future understand the history the best,” (Warren, n.d.). Animation plays a significant part in China’s cultural industry. As Chinese animation film industry has been making significant progress in the international market, what could be the crucial role of its history in the evolution of Chinese animation?
The New Monkey King
Released in July 2015, Monkey King was the most successful animated project in Chinese animation history that was created. The movie holds the current record for the highest-grossing domestic in China, after raking in $150 million at the box office (Chen, 2016). The Monkey King's foundations precede the novel trailed down to the Song dynasty. It is a story about a stone that gave birth to a monkey and suddenly, the monkey attained a supernatural power through Taoist practices. He was imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha after demonstrating his deviances by mocking heaven. Then, he attends a journey with a monk to recover the missing Buddhist sutras from the West India, where Buddha’s devotees live. The movie holds a positive attitude to the people, which proves that the movie took China's social media by storm with its excellent reviews. The movie Monkey King: Hero is back owed much of its success to key opinion leaders. On Weibo and WeChat, the key opinion leaders, such as Shijuezhi, posted unique and meticulous articles about the movie that influenced his millions of followers on his channels (You, 2019).
Based on a classical novel Journey to the West by Cheng’en Wu, the film Monkey King was directed by Xiaopeng Tian. It took the team eight years to finish the movie with a budget of about US $10million. Director Tian stressed the importance of integrating the Chinese culture with the traditional stories in making the film. Without imitating Western or Japanese characters, Chinese animators committed a lot of their time and effort in creating this animation film to express Chinese characteristics such as in emotion, expression, and aesthetics with its high visual quality. Tian also emphasized that perseverance and courage were the values expressed by the animated film. In an interview by China Daily, Director Tian admitted that he combined both Japanese anime and Hollywood cartoons into the animation. “We used our own traditional stories to resonate with our audience’s emotions, and technically we tell the story by means of the West,” said Tian, according to an interview (China.org.cn). The audience’s attention turned to the unique and purely ‘made in China’ style of animation with its quality that is nearly as good as Japanese anime and Hollywood’s animated film. According to one of the movie’s producers – Luwei Zhang – the animation transformed the classic story with the creation of the monkey’s new image. The film “directly appeals to viewer’s sense of sight with loud colors, dynamic action scenes and occasionally quiet background shots in the style of traditional Chinese landscape painting” as quoted from Laiming Lao who is a film critic (Jiang & Huang, 2017, p.133).
Another factor that contributed to Monkey King’s success was the participative activities of Chinese audience in the promotion of the film. With access to social media, audience participation had been building up the excitement by posting reviews online to attract people’s attention and encourage them to watch the artistic production. Some well-known celebrities such as Xiaoming Huang, a famous actor, even voluntarily advertised the movie on their channel to boost up the production and distribution of the film. Influenced by an appealing storyline and a highly creative visual images, it inspired the Chinese community to identify with the film (Jiang & Huang, 2017).
The Return of Ne Zha
Four years after, another Chinese mythical figure known for his rebellious spirit – Ne Zha – became more popular resulting from the runaway victory of vivacious movie highlighting him as the principal character in 2019. Time passed after his handiwork, the most defiant youngster in the Chinese mythology irrevocably reunites with his family, charming the modern Chinese supporters with its recent release. This led to this movie becoming the highest-grossing domestically made animated film on the Chinese mainland. According to the China Movie Data Information Network, Ne Zha had raked in more than 1 billion yuan (about 145 million U.S. dollars) during the fifth day of its release. The film Ne Zha, based on the Chinese novel The Investiture of the Gods, tells a story of a devil born into a loving family and eventually emerged as a hero. The mythical figure riding on his "wind fire wheels" appears in some of the country's best-known works of classic literature, such as Journey to the West. It has also become one of the highest-rated Chinese animation films in recent decades, scoring 8.7 out of 10 on China's leading film rating platform Douban, and 9.7 out of 10 on Maoyan.
Ne Zha' is the first Chinese 3D animation which is in an IMAX format. “It is a top-quality Chinese home-grown animation in recent years, thanks to its mature screenwriting, amazing visual effect as well as a unique style of entertainment," said movie critic Zhang Shufan according to an interview conducted by Xinhua (xinhuanet.com). Many moviegoers now regard Ne Zha as the successor of the Monkey King film for once again bolstering confidence in and expectations for China-made animation features. It has a box-office record of US$725 million worldwide, achieving a record of being the highest grossing non-U.S. animated film of all time. Ne Zha did not fail the hungry expectations of the audience given that the film encountered several problems. According to Shi Chuam, a professor at the Shanghai Theater Academy and deputy head of Shanghai Film Association, this film incorporated contemporary elements with a traditional story (Hui, 2019).
The fine production of Ne Zha took five years to complete with 1,318 special effects shots which comprises 80 percent of the total film shots. More than 1,600 animators who were from 20 special effects studios worked together for three years to polish the storyline’s setting, the mysterious dungeon of the Dragon King and the spectacular fight between fire and ice. This is considered as the most complex production of animation film in China. It took the director two years for revising the script and at the end of the film, it took another three months to try out the major scenes (Yang, 2019).
Directed and written by Jiaozi, this animation film gave a new and fresh meaning to the relationships between the characters. The original and past version of the story tells the story of Ne Zha to have a conflict against his father and fight against autocracy. With the newest film created, it tells the nature of Ne Zha as the reincarnation of a devil who is feared and hated, but convinced himself that his fate is not fixed and that he can decide his destiny whether he chose to be a god or a demon. The nature of the original story’s villains was also changed in which they also suffer from injustice. According to Director Yang, when he changed his career, he suffered from prejudice which prompted him to create an animation film that would motivate the young generation to persevere for their dreams and have the courage to change their own fate (Yang, 2019.)
THE HISTORY OF CHINESE ANIMATION
As one of the fastest-growing film markets in the world today, the Chinese film industry has been evolving exponentially for decades. One of its branches – Chinese animation – went through so much to get to where it is today. Its history began when people became interested in the idea of animation in the 20th century. Animated films have been part of movie history with the earliest versions in the form of shadows, dummies, and conventional figures that is often humorous or tells an adventure story. In addition to this, Chinese animation has a history that involves not only cinematic art but also reveals the country’s history in terms of politics and economy (Yan, Zhang, & Bae, 2019).
How it started
The first contact with Western animation shown in the country was seen in 1918 – an animation piece from the US titled Out of the Inkwell. As an essential form of cinematic art strategically, cartoon clips were used in domestic product advertisements. But it was not until 1926 when the Chinese animation blossomed as pioneered by the Wan brothers who shaped the first black and white Chinese animation entitled Uproar in the Studio. This is a 10 to 12-minute film featuring a paperman who jumped out of an ink bottle and created a commotion in a painting studio. This was followed by another short animation featuring the same paper man. They drew a lot of audiences who were fascinated with their works and were warmly received by the crowd. As a result of this, the Wan brothers were favored by most film entrepreneurs which enabled them to work in various film companies for decades. (Sun, L. 2019)
Besides being humorous to the crowd, the Wan brothers took into account that Chinese animatronics ought to be informative, reasonable, and mind-blowing. They highlighted the importance of being distinctive in developing an animation industry despite its Western stylistic influence. They created about more than 20 short cartoon films and gave assistance in technical support and provided cartoon excerpts to some feature films. (Giesen, 2015)
As the years passed by, the Wan brothers slowly concentrated on subjects with socially conscious themes due to the influence of the Left-Wing Cinema Movement and created the original Chinese animated film with sound titled The Camel’s Dance which was based on Aesop’s Fables that portrays an arrogant camel making a show of himself at a party. (Wu, 2019)
As the West and East continue to communicate and influence each other’s culture, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was screened and introduced in China in 1939. This greatly influenced Chinese animation due to its big success in Shanghai, receiving praise and admiration from the audience that motivated the Wan brothers to make the country’s foremost animated feature film of significant duration entitled Princess Iron Fan in 1941. This is inspired by a chapter of Journey to the West (Chen, 2017). Despite being released during difficult conditions World War II and the Sino-Japanese war, the movie Princess Iron Fan was greatly acclaimed due to its big commercial success and was reportedly influenced by Japan’s Ozamu Tezuka. (Giesen, 2015)
In 1947, films like Emperor’s Dream, dummies were utilized extravagantly to uncover the fraud committed by the Kuomintang Chinese nationalist party. This was created in the Northeast China Film Studio, the original studio organized by a communist party. The idea of using puppets in films for ongoing sociopolitical circumstances has become acceptable. And animators take pride in their animated propaganda documentaries (Du, 2019).
The Wan brothers worked to create their very first colored film titled Why is the Crow Black-Coated, which is very much favored by the audience. This is the first Chinese animation that was recognized internationally that obtained an award at the Venice International Children’s Film Festival. However, China’s delightfulness with the given award didn’t last long when they heard a rumor about the animation was regarded as a Soviet film by the Venice’ juries during the said event. As a result of this, Chinese animators realized the importance of a distinctive style and emphasize establishing a national identity (Du, 2019).
Chinese animators then started to develop a ‘national style’ of animation in China. With this guiding principle, they produced the film The Conceited General directed by Te Wei in 1957. In addition to being the first Chinese animation produced in Technicolor, this film also indicates the start of the structured implementation of arts in politics. (Macdonald, 2017).
The Northeast China Film Studio was relocated to Shanghai in 1950 and was called as Shanghai Animation Film Studio which was sponsored in 1957 by the central government of This field of art in China is indeed comparable with other competing countries in the film industry that became the nation’s sole production house of short films for decades during the peak of the Chinese animation. The studio gained recognition internationally due to its distinctive Chinese style and aesthetics, exhibiting Chinese most imaginative skills, and adapting stories from China’s literary customs and aphorisms (Li, 2017).
A new animation film technique was created by the Wan brothers in 1958 which received full support from Shanghai Animation Film Studio’s director Te Wei. Here, Pigsy Eats Watermelon, the technique used was Wang Guchan’s idea which is based on a folk-art cut-paper animation imitated from the traditional Chinese shadow plays and folk art. It is considered as China’s first paper-cut animation film, in which intricate figures and landscapes are animated from paper designs. In 1960, another technique was developed by Yu Zheguang, called origami animation used in the A Clever Duckling (Sun, 2019).
Again, the Wan brothers worked in the making of a two-part film Havoc in Heaven (1961), a highly celebrated film that became one of the most prominent and high-ranking films in all of Asia. The taping was done for approximately four years. This film was inspired by Peking opera and founded on the world-renowned literary classic entitled, The Journey to the West – just like Princess Iron Fan. This animation features a legendary Monkey King that signifies Chinese animation. The story is descriptive of the Monkey King’s story where he got on the wrong side of the divine Jade Emperor, the ruler of heaven. Sun Wukong, born out of a rock, became Monkey King of the Flower and Fruit Mountain because of his great power. Because of his untamed spirit, he cannot withstand the absolute laws and rules of heaven. He always makes fun of those who have authorities in heaven and even named himself as the Great Sage, which means equal to heaven, that made the Jade Emperor furious. Because of this, powerful leaders and warriors tried to capture Sun Wukong but were unsuccessful. Then finally, he got away from the trigram furnace and tore down most of the imperial palace and went back to his kingdom.
The film was highly inspired by the authentic traditional Chinese art form for it makes use of movements and gestures of their animated characters from Peking Opera motifs. Even the music that was conducted in the movie was from Peking Opera music, especially during various battles scenes. In Mary Ann Farquhar’s account on nationality in “Monks and Monkey: A study of National Style,” Havoc in Heaven marked the evolution of the film industry based on the Chinese culture. Additionally, she mentioned that as a cultural identifier, the Chinese people could be analyzed as a replica of the Chinese traditional arts that complemented the contemporary tongue of the cinematic expertise. This film was the best Chinese animation in that age that the Wan brothers gained international recognition and garnered numerous awards (Du, 2019).
However, this two-part film was a casualty of its times. In 1961, it was celebrated as a “national style” representing the Chinese culture when the first episode was released. When the second episode was completed in 1964, its release was delayed due to the Cultural Revolution. (Du, 2019).
Chinese animation in the Cultural Revolution
The Chinese animation industry came to a complete halt for a decade until 1976 when the cultural revolution was over. During a decade of persecution of artists, the cultural revolution caused China to become a country of a lost culture. When the destruction came to an end, China’s animation industry had to begin anew. Only a few people are willing to support animation due to the need to provide for their families. Making money comes first to support their life and family. It was apparent that the Chinese animation dropped in rank in the film industry wherein the Japanese and American dominated the global market. Most cartoons shown in Hong Kong were brought from the US. American movies played in major cinemas are usually preceded by an American cartoon segment. From a theatrical standpoint, it was evident that Japan is the dominant animation powerhouse in the Far East. Their anime TV series that were market abroad have reached Hong Kong, Europe, and the Middle East via analog broadcast in large quantities. One of the most successful toy lines in history includes Doraemon and Transformers. The Chinese animation industry struggled to strive against these giants (Wu, 2019).
Post-cultural revolution: Golden Age of Chinese animation
In the late 1970s and early ‘80s, the Chinese animation community made its comeback. This was strengthened again when foreign producers started outsourcing to Chinese companies. When the artists came back working with animation and returned to the studio in 1973, the former studio director – Te Wei – was initially made as head of the library and they created predominantly propaganda films. After Chairman Mao’s death and the fall of the Gang Four, Te Wei was reinstated as head of the animation studio who remained there until 1984. This marks the start of another golden age of Chinese animation. Veterans and amateurs alike created many puppets, paper cut and cell works that were recognized at international festivals and gained awards (Giesen, 2015)...