Although Chinese animation during the socialist era (1940s–1990s), has earned a worldwide reputation for its national style, it has received little scholarly attention. Daisy Yan Du's edited collection Chinese Animation and Socialism, the first English-language book on the subject, brings together Chinese animators’ behind-the-scenes accounts of their art and industry. In the introduction to the volume, Du argues that the animations produced in the socialist era, rather than exemplifying the suppression of literature and arts, instead demonstrate high artistic value and have provided a cultural legacy for productions in the digital era. The golden age of Chinese animation, especially of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, as Du explains, can be attributed to the centralized animated filmmaking mode facilitated by socialist collectivism and the relatively more relaxed cultural environment enabled by the medium specificity of animation (a marginalized art geared primarily toward children).
The book comes out of an animators’ roundtable forum, “Chinese Animation and (Post)Socialism,” which Du organized at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in April 2017. Chinese Animation and Socialism consists of chapters written by animation practitioners from diverse professional backgrounds, including animators, a photographer, a composer, an animation voice actress and a screenwriter, and it also incorporates interviews conducted by Du. The group of people represented in its pages were crucial to the development of socialist animation. Therefore, the forum on which the book is based, the interviews it contains, and the chapters within provide a bountiful archive for future research. Echoing the political term in the forum's title, the book illustrates the lingering relationship between socialism and post-socialism in the field of Chinese animation through its structure: seventeen chapters are divided into seven parts according to political periodization and theme.
Part one, “The splendor of socialist animation,” comprising seven chapters, addresses the Chinese socialist animation industry. Chapters by Mochinaga Noriko and Duan Xiaoxuan recount the Northeast Film Studio and its relocation to Shanghai in the early 1950s, focusing on the Japanese animator Mochinaga Tadahito and innovations in animation technology (such as ink-painting animation), respectively. In the rest of the section, Yang Dingxian, Lin Wenxiao, Pu Jiaxiang and Pu Yong share stories from their animation careers; they describe animation in the socialist era as a burgeoning field and express nostalgia for the collective mode of production. The four chapters in part two, “The transition to postsocialist animated filmmaking,” discuss Chinese animators’ efforts and struggles in the transition to post-socialist animated filmmaking. Yan Shanchun's chapter explores new motifs and directing styles in animated shorts. In each of their contributions, Dai Tielang, Chang Guangxi and Zhou Keqin discuss their experimentation in animation during the dramatic social historical changes of the 1980s and 1990s, including production of an animated television series, the making of the first commercial animated feature film, and the formation of a joint-venture company. The third and fourth parts explore (Post)Socialist animation from the perspective of its soundscape and literary landscape. Jin Fuzai and Ding Jianhua offer their experiences as a composer and a voice actress respectively. Ling Shu, an animation film scriptwriter, shares an insider's view of scriptwriting in animated filmmaking. The two chapters in part four, “In memory of socialist animators,” – one written by a colleague and the other a descendent – recall various socialist animators, including Qian Jiajun, A Da (Xu Jingda), Te Wei and Wang Shuchen. Drawing the collection to a close, in single chapters in each of parts six and seven, socialist animator Fung Yuk Song explores political propaganda in the history of Chinese animation, and Japanese cartoonist and researcher Ono Kōsei discusses the reception of Chinese animation in Japan from the 1940s to the 1980s.
The seventeen chapters provide abundant resources for future studies of (post)socialist animation in China and suggest some potential research questions: in terms of the field of Chinese animation, following Yan Dingxian's (chapter three) discussion of the transition of art institutions from private to public, how do such changes impact animation education and production? As Yan Shanchun (chapter seven) and Ling Shu (chapter 13) evoke in recalling their professional transitions from fine arts to animation, how did animators during the socialist decades perceive animation, and what does their term “fine arts film” (meishu pian) signal? Moreover, the collection also raises questions pertinent to other fields in Chinese studies. As Duan Xiaoxuan mentions, the first colour animated film laid a good foundation for China's first colour narrative film (p. 34); what, thus, were the interactions between animation and film productions at the Shanghai Film Studio during the socialist period? And since many animators share their experience of sketching from life in their productions, how does this specific practice resonate with the movement of sketching in other artistic fields in China?
Apart from the informative and valuable resources, Du also shares her personal academic experience in this area over the past 13 years. In a way, the establishment of this marginalized field can be attributed to her outstanding efforts. This book showcases her endeavours to push the field forward. As an excellent reference book containing useful textual accounts of Chinese socialist animations, it is not only essential for scholars and students interested in the fields of Chinese animation and even worldwide animation but also beneficial to animators who strive to learn from the past.
