This page is about the development of animation and comic industry in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: 中国大陆; Traditional Chinese: 中國大陸; Pinyin: Zhōnggúo Dàlù, lit. ...

Early history

Chinese animation have started in the 1920s before the emergence of Japanese animation in the '50s. Inspired by Disney and Hollywood films produced in America, WanSi Brothers(万氏兄弟) produced the first Chinese silent animation Choas in the Studio (大闹画室) in 1926. WanSi Brothers highly acclaimed the animation development in America, Russia, and Germany. He believed that Chinese animation should be instructive, logical and thought-provoking besides being entertaining to its audience. As a result, Chinese animation emerged as the only dominant animation style in the Far East throughout the 1930's and 1940's. At the same time, comic development also gained momentum. The most famous work of the period is Zhang Le Ping's (張樂平) San Mao's Travel Diary (三毛流浪記). The story depicted an orphan boy named San Mao who drifts from place to place and suffers various hardships. Being always optimistic in the face of hardships, he eventually got his fortunes and blessings. The main character had been compared frequently with AQ (阿Q), the fictional character from Lu Xun(魯迅), one of the greatest literary figure in the 1930s. Eventually, San Mao have been put into animation at much later time. In Hong Kong, the story of Lao Fu Zi(老夫子), a comical character bear some similarity with old Confucian scholar who could not fit the modern life, has become popular and has been animated in Hong Kong in the '80s. Still from the movie Ghost in the Shell (1995) This article is about Japanese animation. ... 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Motto: E pluribus unum (1789 to 1956) (Latin: Out of Many, One) In God We Trust (1956 to present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at federal level; English de facto Government • President • Vice President Federal republic George... Far East is an inexact term often used for East Asia and Southeast Asia combined, sometimes including also the easternmost territories of Russia, i. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Lu Xun (Traditional: 魯迅; Simplified: 鲁迅; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Lu Hsün) or Lu Hsün (Wade-Giles) (September 25, 1881 – October 19, 1936), the pen name of Zhou Shuren (Traditional Chinese: 周樹人; Simplified Chinese: 周树人; pinyin: ), has been considered one of the most influential Chinese writers of the 20th century and the founder... Old Master Q (老夫子; pinyin: LÇŽo FÅ«Zǐ) is a popular Chinese comic strip. ...

The founding of ShangHai Arts and Film Production Company

After 1949, the founding of ShangHai Arts and Film Production Company (上海美術電影製片廠) sponsored by the central government helped China to enter its animation golden era during the '50s and '60s. In 1956 the company's first colored animation Why is the Crow Black-Coated(乌鸦为什么是黑的) won the first international award. Increasing Chinese style mixing with traditional Chinese opera schemes and figures helped the company to launch new animation films such as Magical Pen(神笔) and The Proud General (骄傲的将军). As a result, the animated movie Magical Pen won five series awards internationally for its unique style of representation. 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The 1960s

During the 1960s, Chinese animation style culminated to the peak of its own styles, mixing with elements of traditional art characteristics. Where Is Mama , Buffalo Boy and the Flute, The Journey to the West have all won international fame. However, Chinese started its rapid decline due to Cultural Revolution and fell quickly behind its peer Japan. The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... The four heros of the story, left to right: Sun Wukong, Xuánzàng, Zhu Wuneng, and Sha Wujing. ... A poster during the Cultural Revolution. ...

The 1970s

While the mainland animation suffered major setbacks, Hong Kong and Taiwan's animation industry started to boom. Famous Hong Kong comic and animation artists includes Ma Rong Cheng(馬榮誠). Taiwanese animator and artist Cai Zhi Zhong(蔡志忠)also started to gain fame.

The 1980s

The 1980s is a time of change in China after the turmoil, several animation series were produced though international recognitions are not received. Among these works, the Hulu Brothers (葫蘆兄弟)and Marshall the Black Cat (黑貓警長) have become popular among children. At the same time, the rapid commercialization of Japanese animation industry have started to find its way into the Chinese market. The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ...

The 1990s

By the 1990s, Chinese animation faced major decline by the onset of Western and Japanese animation industry. Saint Seiya is published in China under Hainan Photography and Arts Publication (海南攝影美術出版社). Doraemon and Transformers entered the market by broadcasting on the CCTV central television channel. The commercialization and innovation of Japanese and American animation pushed the traditional Chinese animation out of the market. Complaints have been heard throughout the '90s about the problems facing Chinese animation. Therefore, the '90s is an increasing time of change. By the mid '90s, numerous artists have adopted into American and Japanese styles. In 1994, the mainland published its first bi-weekly comics magazine called King of Hua Shu (画书大王). Numerous artists started to publish their works on the magazine. Including Chen Xiang's (陳翔) Xiao Shan's Diary (小山日記), a story about a crazy scientist, bearing some resemblance to Dr.Slump. The publication of King of Hua Shu is forced to shut down by the government due to its copyright violation of using some Japanese manga in some of its pages. Nevertheless, it is a first journal and first attempt to change the direction of Chinese animation. Following King of Hua Shu, several weekly, monthly, and bi-weekly animation journal started to appear in China. Shao Nian Weekly (少年周刊)is one of the most popular. At the same time in Taiwan, new comic artists emerged including Zhu De Yong (朱德庸). He published satirical style cartoon about secular life in a humorous, self de-facing manner and won numerous awards and gained popularity. Some artists such as You Su Lan (游素蘭) from Taiwan has become one of the few foreign manga artists established in Japan. The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... Saint Seiya original Japanese logo. ... Doraemon Doraemon) by Hiroshi Fujimoto, pen name Fujiko F. Fujio, is a Japanese manga about a robotic cat, Doraemon, who has travelled back in time from the future to aid a schoolboy, Nobita Nobi. ... CCTV can stand for: China Central Television Closed-circuit television This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... North American edition of Volume 1, featuring Arale. ...

The 21st century

Xiao Xiao's stick figure, become worldly known

Through the Moebius Strip, the first full 3D animation generated by GDC entertainment, scheduled to release in US 2005

labix's fairy tale style

Showgood's Romance of San Guo

A major change has took place in 1999 both in China and Taiwan when the Internet has open major opportunities for animators, artists all over the country to work together in animation. In China, the first change is the emergence of Flash animation and Flash artists. FlashEmpire (閃客帝國) become the first Macromedia Flash community in China to formulate a weekly ranking system (爬行榜) with functionalities such as receiving score, votes, and comments from each viewers. It become so popular that by the beginning of the year 2000 it had 10,000 visitors visit the site daily with more than 5,000 individual works published. However, most of the works are amateurish. Among the amateurs, Bai Ding's No View Below 18(少兒不宜), intending to show audience a picture of a nude woman but ending up showing a picture of a dog, become the typical work of this period. A real trend of change started in August, 2000 when Lao Jiang (老蔣) published the world's longest and first full vector graphic animated MTV in Flash using the pop star Cui Jian's A New March in The 25,000 Li(新長征路上的搖滾). This work received more than 10 million hits up to date. Since its release, animated MTV in China took a new directions. Many successful artists started to produced MTV in flash. Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Macromedia Flash, or simply Flash, refers to both the Macromedia Flash Player and to a multimedia authoring program used to create content for it as well as games or movies created using the program. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... August is the eighth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Cui Jian (Chinese: 崔健; Pinyin: ; born August 2, 1961) is a Beijing-based musician, songwriter, trumpet player, guitarist and composer. ...

By 2001, Xiao Xiao (小小) Kung Fu stick figures (小小作品系列) not only become the most popular animated shorts in China, but overseas as well. His total work received more than 50 million hits up to date, making his the most known flash artist in China and in the world. By year 2002, flash artists in China is moving toward a more artistic direction. The work of Buhua's (卜樺) Cat (貓) used painting like style and mentioned about a story of a baby cat and his mother's suffering. In addition, labix's (蠟筆X) works have become one of the best fairy tale styles flash history. By 2003, new studios such as B&T, Snailcn, and Sinodoor formed and has become the first private, non-state owned animation companies in mainland China. Moreover, several novels based on animation and comics way of story-telling have been proposed to be transformed into animation. These works included Guo Jing Ming(郭敬明)'s Phantom Castle(幻城) and Xuan Yu(玄雨)'s Legend of a Small Soldier(小兵傳奇). Screenshot from one of the Xiao Xiao animations Xiao Xiao (Chinese: 小小; Hanyu Pinyin: ) is a Flash cartoon series by Chinese animator Zhu Zhiqiang, featuring stick-figure men performing choreographed fight scenes. ... For the Cusco album, see 2002 (album). ... Trinomial name Felis silvestris catus (Linnaeus, 1758) The cat, also called the domestic cat or house cat, is a small feline carnivorous mammal of the subspecies Felis silvestris catus. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bridge and tunnel (often abbreviated to B&T) is a derogatory term used by residents of Manhattan to refer to the large amount of people who commute into the city from the nearby area, both for work and for the New York nightlife. ...

At the same time in Taiwan, Chun Shui Tang(春水堂)established themselves as an online disney world for all Chinese speaking audiences. By 2001, Time magazine Asia edition listed Akuei as one of the top 100 new fugures in Asia. In Hong Kong, Showgood.com sponsored one of the most popular online work series called the Romance of San Guo (大話三國). This work is still the most widely read online animated series in China. The work is known for its parody of the traditional historical story of the Period of Three Kingdom. 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... A pocket watch. ...

In Hong Kong, the first 3D company, GDC entertainment established in Shen Zhen. Their very first 80 minute 3D rendered movie Through the Moebius Strip have already undergone the review is scheduled to release into North American theaters in 2005.

Incomplete list of recent notable Chinese animated shorts/series completed/in-progress

• Xiao Xiao Number Series(小小作品系列): made by Flash Artist Xiao Xiao
• Craze for Song(我為歌狂)
• Akeui Series(阿貴系列): popular online animation from Taiwan
• Showgood Shan Guo Series(大話三國): popular San Guo Series published online
• Through the Moebius Strip: the first Hong Kong 3D animation
• Da Hai* Yu Tang(大海.魚塘):Short animated film produced by B&T Studio
• Girl, How Long Will Your One Minute Last(女孩,你的一分鐘有多長): The first over 60-minute 2D animation published by Sinodoor
• Sutown League(傻不當聯盟): a Pilot Web Cartoon lead to "Cool Joke" Phenomenon
• Yu Shi(雨石): over 60 minutes 2D+3D fantasy story by Ke Fan Studio
• Yao Yan(妖言):long series about a frivolous girl's called Xiao Yao love with Sakura
• Romance of Li Bai(大話李白)
• Story about a House(房房物語):E-toon's production
• Gan Jia Long (甘焦龍)
• Little Soldier's Story(小兵的故事):10 episodes story created by showgood about a little soldier
• Birthday angels 365(生日天使365): story currently under production by Suansworks

Screenshot from one of the Xiao Xiao animations Xiao Xiao (Chinese: 小小; Hanyu Pinyin: ) is a Flash cartoon series by Chinese animator Zhu Zhiqiang, featuring stick-figure men performing choreographed fight scenes. ... Zhu Zhiqiang (b. ... I want to know my guardian angel, corresponds to my birthdate. ...

See also

Manhua Manhua (Traditional Chinese: 漫畫; Simplified Chinese: 漫画; Pinyin: ) is a general term for comics produced in China, often including Chinese translations of Japanese manga. ...

External links

• [1]: "Chinese Animation: Splendid Past, Bitter Present"
• [2]: "Chinese Animation Market: Monkey King vs. Mickey Mouse"
• [3]: One of the largest Flash portal in China
• [4]: Flash8, based in Shanghai
• [5]: netease cartoon
• [6]: 火神網 (huo sheng forum)
• [7]: showgood.com
• [8]:B&T studio
• [9]: 中華軒動畫網 (sinodoor)
• [10]: 思妙動畫 (snailcn)
• [11]: GDC Entertainment
• [12]: 四格帝國 (the4world)
• [13]: 動漫人 (comicren)
• [14]: 其卡通 (itscartoon)