Chinese animation

Chinese animation or Manhua Anime, in narrow sense, refers to animation made in China.

History

In the first century BC, the Chinese craftsman Ding Huan (丁緩) invented a device "on which many strange birds and mysterious animals were attached" that were said to have "moved quite naturally", but it is unclear if this and the other devices historian Joseph Needham calls "a variety of zoetrope" involved any true illusion of animation or simply featured static or mechanized figures actually moving through space.

Modern animation in China began in 1918 when an animation piece from the United States titled Out of the Inkwell landed in Shanghai. Cartoon clips were first used in advertisements for domestic products. Though the animation industry did not begin until the arrival of the Wan brothers in 1926. The Wan brothers produced the first Chinese animated film with sound, The Camel's Dance, in 1935. The first animated film of notable length was Princess Iron Fan in 1941. Princess Iron Fan was the first animated feature film in Asia and it had great impact on wartime Japanese Momotaro animated feature films and later on Tezuka Osamu. China was relatively on pace with the rest of the world up to the mid-1960s, with the Wan's brothers Havoc in Heaven earning numerous international awards.