By Li Guo In her recently published monograph Puppets, Gods, and Brands: Theorizing the Age of Animation from Taiwan, Teri Silvio insightfully observes that for the author, the animation model could also be utilized to display “how specific local cultural traditions make sense of and contribute to global transformations.”[1] Further, Silvio observes that “recent transformations … Continue reading Hauntological Aesthetics in Taiwanese Animation Feature Grandma and Her Ghosts (1998) →

By Muyang Zhuang  Manhua, a Chinese term that can be translated into English as cartoon or caricature, was a popular art form that flourished in early 20th century China. Emerging in treaty ports such as Shanghai and Tianjin in the late Qing Dynasty, most manhua was published in newspapers or pictorial magazines.[1] Mainly serving as … Continue reading A Literature Review on Manhua Studies →

By CHEN Yishui; adapted by Yixing Li While Chinese animation originated in the 1920s and had an early impact on world animation, animation studies in mainland China remained rudimentary until the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The field developed steadily after the Reform and Opening-up and has made significant progress in … Continue reading An Overview of Animation Studies in Mainland China, 1949-2020 →

By Winnie Fu Hong Kong animation has a unique path of development, which contributed to its scattered but significant achievements in the past 50-odd years. Its multifaceted developments are linked to the dedication—even obsession—of a group of motivated animators who had successfully created world-acclaimed productions and continue to add to Hong Kong’s list of missions … Continue reading Hong Kong Animation History Revisited →

By Hongmei Sun It is no surprise that the character of Sun Wukong, better known as Monkey or the Monkey King in the West, has made so many appearances in the history of Chinese animation, given his longstanding popularity in China among children and adults alike. As the protagonist of the sixteenth century classic novel … Continue reading Monkey King and Chinese Animation →

By Eileen Chang; translated by Panpan Yang The word “cartoon” has a history of less than ten years in China. However, probably all moviegoers know Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse. “Cartoon” originally referred to all single-panel satirical comics, newsreel comics, life comics, serial comics and so on, but the kind of cartoon I want to talk … Continue reading On the Future of Cartoons (Eileen Chang, 1937) →