Source: CCTV.com

10-03-2006 15:06

In last weekend's "Spotlight", we took a stroll through the history of the Chinese mainland's animation industry from its inception in 1926 through its first golden age. Today, let's continue our journey to discover what happened next.

Stagnation

One of the best works of 1964 was the paper-cut animation “Hongjun Bridge. The story is set during China's civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China. The film is famous for its vivid characters. To make things easy for everyone, the Kuomintang soldiers are portrayed as ugly, hunch-backed cowards. In stark comparison, the Communist soldiers are brave and upright, and their loyal followers, the peasants, are strong and tireless.

Two others hits that year were the puppet films "The Cock Crows at Midnight" and “Heroic Sisters of the Grasslands”. But, as the country descended into political chaos, these were to be the last animations for almost a decade. The industry, and almost everything else in China, was in stagnation.

The ice was finally broken in 1973, when "Little Bugler" was awarded at the Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films. The story is about a boy who grows up in a poor family to finally join the army and become a bugler. Directors Wang Shushen and Yan Dingxian did their best to make the film reflect reality. Ultimately, it became one of the era's most effective pieces of political education.