Monkey King vs. Er Lang Shen

Monkey King vs. Er Lang Shen is a film produced by Yuan Cheng.

Background

The film features puppet live action, about 30% of the movie, with animated 3D backgrounds and characters.

Story

Based on a few early chapters of classic fantasy novel Journey to the West, the story tells the Monkey King rises against the heaven and has a horrific fight with Er Lang Shen, the nephew of Jade Emperor, who rules the Heaven.

New Year (1924 film)

New Year is a black and white Chinese animation made in 1924 by Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan.

History

It is a cartoon short produced under the "Shanghai Tobacco Company" . The clip was an advertisement. It is very likely that the company was actually the given the time frame and location.

Pigsy Eats Watermelon

Pigsy Eats Watermelon is a chinese animation produced at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio by Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan. It is also referred to as ''"Mr. Pig Eats Watermelon"'' or ''"Zhu Bajie Eats Watermelon"''.

Story

The main character was Zhu Bajie, the Chinese folklore character from the literature Journey to the West. Though the story was considered more of a . The character was used, since pigs were often associated with greed in the culture.

Background

In 1958 Wan Guchan innovated a new and this film was one of the first to utilize the method.

Princess Iron Fan (1941 film)

Princess Iron Fan , is the first feature film. It was directed in Shanghai under difficult conditions in the thick of World War II by Wan Guchan and Wan Laiming and was released on January 1, .

Plot

The story was liberally adapted from the popular Chinese folk tale ''Journey to the West''. Princess Iron Fan is a main character.

Specifically, the film focused on the duel between the Monkey King and a vengeful princess, whose fan is desperately needed to quench the flames that surround a peasant village.

Background

The Wan family twins Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan with their brothers Wan Chaochen and Wan Dihuan were the first animators in China. After the release of their first "real" cartoon, ''Uproar in the Studio'' , they continued to dominate China's animation industry for the next several decades. In the late 1930s, with Shanghai under , they began work on China's first animated film. In 1939 the Wan brothers saw '''' and set the standard in attempting to create a film of equal quality for the nation's honor.

The film took three years, 237 artists and 350,000 to make. Although the Disney influence is apparent in much of the animation, there is also a distinct Chinese flavour in the film - a flavour that would grow much stronger with the Wan brothers' subsequent films in the following decades. Rotoscoping was used extensively to save money, and the eyes of the live actors are often visible in the faces of the animated characters.

By 1940 the film would render past 20,000 frames, using up more than 200 thousand pieces of paper . They shot over of footage. And the final piece would contain of footage which can be shown in 80 minutes. The Wan brothers also invited the following actors and actresses for sound dubbing ,,,,. At the time they were at the Xinhua Film Company animation department since it was the only remaining production company left during the Japanese occupancy period. The manager of the company who help financed the film was Zhang Shankun.

''Princess Iron Fan'' became the first animated feature film to be made in Asia and the 12th worldwide . Upon completion the film was screened by the Chinese union film company.

Influence

Its influences were far-reaching; it was swiftly exported to wartime Japan , inspiring the 16-year-old Tezuka Osamu to become a comics artist and prompting the to commission Japan's own first feature-length animated film, 1945's ''Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors'' .

Shuzhendong Chinese Typewriter

Shuzhendong Chinese Typewriter is the first Chinese animation ever made in 1922 by Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan.

Translations

There are 2 possible translations. The first translation is "Comfortably Raised Eastern Chinese Typewriter", likely a generic marketing name.

The second translation maybe "Comfortable Zhendong Chinese Typewriter" as in the town of Zhendong in the Binhai county located in the Jiangsu . Which happens to be directly north of Shanghai, where the pioneering Wan brothers were doing animation experiments at the time.

History

The black and white advertisement was created for the Shanghai Commercial Press . It was a printing establishment setup in 1902. By 1919 the Wan brothers were experimenting with animation technologies from the US, and this commercial piece is the first known animation with a practical use outside their research.

Snow Kid

Snow Kid is a film produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio. It is also referred to as ''"Snow Child"''.

Story

Story is about a rabbit mother leaving her young rabbit at home alone. At first the young rabbit builts the snow man and they entertain one another. Afterwards the young rabbit fell asleep and accidentally started a fire in the cabin. The snow man saves the rabbit, but sacrifice himself melting in the fire.

VCD

A VCD release was made available in 1996.

Sparkling Red Star

Sparkling Red Star is a film produced by Puzzle Animation Studio Limited.

Background

Sparkling Red Star originated from the same titled novel written by a famous Chinese writer Li Xintian. The novel was remade into a film in the 70’s and has become one of the classic all-time hit in China’s film industry.

Story

The story is set in 1937 against the background of the 's Long March. In Liuxi Village in Jiangxi, an innocent and cheerful child, Pan Dongzi, spent his carefree childhood. But after reaching 10 years of age, he began to experience the sorrows and joys of life's partings and reunions.

Pan's father was a Red Army soldier who was unfortunately captured during fighting against Hu Hansan, a wicked tyrant in the village. He was saved from danger by the Red Guards under the Red Army. Since then, Pan worshiped Xiuzhu, the Captain of Red Guards. The villagers of Liuxi Village also enjoyed a period of happy days under the protection of the Red Guards.

However, good times did not last long. The Red Army had to set off on the Long March, and Pan's father had to go, too. Before father and son parted, Pan's father gave him a red star badge as symbol of encouragement. After his father left, only a few members of the Red Guard were left stationed in Liuxi Village. Hu the traitor, hired a number of cold-blooded killers and returned to Liuxi Village. He occupied Liuxi Village again, and Pan had no choice but to flee with his mother by following the Red Guards.

During a fightback by the Red Guards, Pan's mother sacrificed herself to save everyone else. From that time, Pan grew up experiencing failures and frustrations with neither of his parents by his side. Pan constantly strove to become stronger, and gradually became a tough person. He had changed from a stubborn child into a brave and passionate young man.