Chinese animated legends

When people think of animation, many automatically think about those that come from Japan or the Disney classics that they watched as children. Yet in recent years, China has been making efforts to establish itself on the global animation map. Many Chinese animations not only become mainstream, but also are reviewed highly and bring in large amounts at the box office.
谈及动漫时，许多人都会不自觉地想到儿时看的日本或者迪士尼的经典动画。而近年来，中国也努力在全球动漫行业中占据一席之地。许多中国动漫不光成为了主流，甚至票房口碑都取得了双丰收。

For example, in 2016, the Chinese film Big Fish and Begonia brought in over 200 million yuan in just three days after its release. In 2019, the film Ne Zha opened with 100 million yuan in ticket sales and topped the mainland’s ticket-revenue charts for four consecutive days. Recently, after the animation White Cat Legend was released on video-sharing platform Bilibili in April, it immediately became the top-rated Chinese-language TV drama on the review platform Douban, scoring 9.2 points out of 10.
比如，中国电影《大鱼海棠》2016年上映时，首映三天票房就超过200万元。2019年的电影《哪吒之魔童降世》预售票房突破一亿元，并连续四天获得单日票房冠军。动画《大理寺日志》在视频分享平台哔哩哔哩上线后，也很快成为了影评平台豆瓣上的热门华语剧作，获得了9.2的高分（满分10分）。

According to The Paper, the rise of Chinese animation is partly due to its Chinese culture-inspired content and fantastic visual effects.
据澎湃新闻报道，国漫崛起的部分原因在于其中华文化的故事内涵以及精美的视觉特效。

The TV drama White Cat Legend is set during the rule of Tang Dynasty Empress Wu Zetian. It tells the story of an official named Li Bing attempting to solve crimes with the appearance of a white cat. In order to make the show more attractive to audiences, the producers replicated the architecture and customs of the Tang Dynasty, including the bustling streets, merchants, clothing and utensils.
动漫《大理寺日志》的故事背景发生在唐朝武则天统治时期，讲述了白猫少卿李饼的破案故事。为了让节目更加吸引观众，创作者们还在剧中还原了唐朝的建筑风俗，如熙熙攘攘的街巷、商贾、服饰，以及器具等。

“The production and visual effect seem to bring us to Tang Dynasty”, an internet user commented on Bilibili.
“制作和视觉特效似乎把我们都带回到了唐朝，”一位网友在哔哩哔哩上如此评论道。

Similarly, Big Fish and Begonia is based on ancient Chinese legends and follows the grand adventure of a 16-year-old girl named Chun who lives in a magical world beyond the human realm. Using a mixture of 2D drawings and 3D animation, the film is aesthetically impressive. “It is visually dazzling and made very much in the Hayao Miyazaki mode, including an intrepid young heroine and the cultural specificity that characterizes works like the Oscar-winning Spirited Away,” wrote Kenneth Turan, a film critic for the Los Angeles Times.
同样，《大鱼海棠》也改编自中国古代神话传说，讲述了16岁少女椿的宏大冒险，她居住在人类世界以外的魔幻世界之中。电影将二维绘画与三维动画结合起来，呈现了一场令人惊艳的美学盛宴。“电影的视觉效果令人陶醉，很有宫崎骏的风格，比如勇敢无畏的年轻的女主人公以及独特的文化内涵都具有奥斯卡获奖影片《千与千寻》的特点，”《洛杉矶时报》影评人肯尼斯·图兰如此写道。

The excellent visual effects aren’t the only thing that make these works stand out. The universal themes have also helped to extend the reach to millions of audiences worldwide.
出色的视效并不是这些优秀作品的唯一亮点。普世的主题也令这些作品走出国门，打动了全球数百万观众。

Big Fish and Begonia teaches people about love and sacrifice, which is a lesson all people need to learn in their lives. In the animation Ne Zha, we can see a rebellious underdog who has to overcome hardship and his dark destiny to become a hero. The theme is about “the rebellious but righteous youth, which young people can relate to, encouraging them to become dream-chasers and fate-changers”, noted China Daily.
《大鱼海棠》教给人们爱与奉献，这是所有人的一堂人生必修课。而在动画《哪吒之魔童降世》中，我们看到一个被人瞧不起的叛逆者，历经种种艰险，不惧坎坷宿命，最终才成为了一位英雄。电影主题就在于“叛逆却又正直的青春，令年轻人感同身受，并激励他们勇敢追梦，改变命运，”《中国日报》指出。

With more Chinese producers’ effort on these aspects, the Chinese animations will be promising in the near future, noted The Paper.
随着越来越多中国创作者在这些方面做出努力，中国动漫未来可期，澎湃新闻指出。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高二797期