Animation in the Early Years of the People’s Republic of China (1949–1965)

In the 17 years following the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese film industry experienced rapid growth, and movie-going gradually became one of the most popular forms of entertainment for the general public. By 1965, the number of film screening units nationwide had increased to 30 times the number at the time of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The Chinese animation industry also saw significant development; animation production bases were gradually established; animation education and talent training were progressively improved, with nearly 500 people involved in animation production by around 1965; the number of animations created reached 112, including highly artistic feature-length animations such as Havoc in Heaven, Peacock Princess, and The Golden Sea Snail, which won dozens of international awards and garnered a world reputation for Chinese animation; animation theory research continuously emerged; animation production technology gradually matured with significant breakthroughs made in color animation, stop-motion animation, ink animation, three-dimensional animation, and shooting and special effects technology; the variety of animation types was enriched, including 2D animations, puppet stop-motion, paper-cutting stop-motion, and origami stop-motion; animation themes became more diverse, including fairy tales, fables, myths, legends, and reality; and the application fields of animation expanded to include entertainment films, science and education films, political propaganda films, and military education films.