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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 1
Publication Date: January 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/assrj.91.11555. Tang, H., Gong, X., & Qi, L. (2022). Beyond the Context of Cultural Confidence: A Study of Communication Competence of the
Chinese School. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(1). 385-396.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Beyond the Context of Cultural Confidence: A Study of
Communication Competence of the Chinese School
Hai Tang
My Studio, Jiangnan University, Wuxi Taihu University, Wuxi, China
Xiaobin Gong
My Studio, Jiangnan University, Wuxi Taihu University, Wuxi, China
Lihong Qi
My Studio, Jiangnan University, Wuxi Taihu University, Wuxi, China
ABSTRACT
Chinese animated films such as Monkey King: Hero is Back in 2015, Big Fish &
Begonia in 2016 and Ne Zha: I am the Destiny in 2019 won higher box office and they
achieved a similar popularity as the Wolf Warriors (2015 and 2017) in China’s film
market. Perhaps partially because these animations bring audience a sense of
familiarization such as they reveal popular culture and collective beliefs (i.e., “I’m
the Destiny” as a slogan) to promote cultural identity.On the other hand, the making
of Chinese animated films has been gradually getting mature in narration,
adaptation, and creation. Both the production mode and the industrial scope have
been formed to compete with Japanese anime and American cartoons. Though there
are still many problems in making Chinese animations, Chinese School has been
working on interpretating and deconstructing the essence of Chinese culture in
their animated works. This attitude also marks Chinese School’s determination to
disseminate Chinese culture so as to rebuild its confidence towards the animation
world.
Key words: Chinese culture, Animation, Japan and America, Cultural confidence,
Dissemination
A PROLIFIC PERIOD FOR MAKING CHINESE ANIMATIONS IN THE NEW CENTURY
In recent years, domestic animated works are produced with both quantity and quality.
According to China Film Administration, by December 31, 2019, a total of 850 films have been
produced, of which 51 are animated ones. Though animation only occupied 6% in that year,
audience have been impressed by excellent stories, great characters and new and old artistic
styles inserted in animated films such as The Monkey King: Hero is Back (2015), Big Fish &
Begonia (2016), Ne Zha: I am the Destiny (2019) and so forth. It is arguably to say that the
emergence of these animations has reactivated Chinese movie industry, as Pan Jian has
commented:
The box office in 2019 has surpassed its total amount in 2018, due to the contribution of the
productive animated films. Domestic animation has been playing an important role in the film
market; it marks that both Chinese animators and Chinese animation industry are gradually
getting competitive in making animated works. (2020:28)
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Another supported evidence is that, take 2019, the box office of animated films accounted for
four seats in a list of annual Top10 movies of the year; some of them (e.g., Ne Zha: I am the
Destiny) even outstripped the Japanese and American animations (Sun, 2020:145). This shows
that the animated works produced by Chinese animators are capable to compete with the
outside competitors. Also, it potentially indicates that the innovation and transformation in
China’s animation industry start to enter into an essential stage of success.
What is the secret for making a qualified animation? Or, what is the significant part of China’s
animation industry in producing competitive animated films in recent years? In the following
sections, the paper will discuss the question by setting the content into five parts.
The first part, as can be seen in the above paragraphs, briefly introduces that the advent of the
new century has given Chinese animation creators a new space to rewrite Chinese stories as
well producing well-crafted works. The second part intends to tell the reader that animation is
no longer a form of children’s art so as to highlight that watching animation films may become
a popular trend among adults. Especially in the 21st century, an animation meets new
technology of digital to express animators’ artistic styles; whether it is taken from traditional
or modern stories, audience are able to sense the real meaning of the work. The viewpoints can
be seen in both part three and four; the former, from comparison with American and Japanese
animated works, it aims to suggest the Chinese School that the emphasis on cultural symbols in
animation works shall become a main theme of cultural dissemination. The latter addresses
that creation of the animation may couple with the aim for the construction of national culture
(Pan,2020:28), such correlation makes animation become a particular carrier for cultural
output. By introducing themes and thoughts in animated works, audience may recognize the
quality of Chinese culture, understand the special features of Chinese culture, so as to
cognitively be interested in Chinese culture. This might be the meaning of cultural confidence
emphasized at the end of this paper, and for the Chinese School, ‘cultural confidence’ will always
be taken as an original intention as well as a targeted mission of making Chinese animations.
ANIMATION AND POPULAR CULTURE: AN EXTENSION OF THE AUDIENCE FROM
CHILDREN TO ADULTS
Popular culture is different from serious culture in the traditional sense; it is a genre of culture
that can be understood by the public and spontaneously disseminated among the public. As a
product of the cultural industry, popular culture is as similar as mass culture, to some extent
(Wang, 2021:222). The simple distinction of popular culture from the form of high art comes
from the Frankfurt School; they consider classical music and classical fine art as aristocratic
arts with an aesthetic tendency of the elitism, while novels, movies, pop music, etc. are excluded
from the term “culture” (Wang, 2021:222).
The simple classification of higher and lower cultures by the Frankfurt School has been causing
great controversy, while the mass culture they mentioned has become a symbol of popularity
at an unlimited speed, targeting the public in the era of cultural industry under commercial and
strategic promotions, it has obtained considerable economic benefits.
Popular culture, as Richard Hamilton put it, is “consumptive, reproducible and collectively
carnival”. Products of the popular culture such as movies, pop music, fashion shows may
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Tang, H., Gong, X., & Qi, L. (2022). Beyond the Context of Cultural Confidence: A Study of Communication Competence of the Chinese School.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(1). 385-396.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.91.11555
embody popular lifestyles and tastes, reflect social phenomena, or exhibit urban characteristics.
(Liu, 2010:227)
This production-for-consumption culture looks at the ‘contemporary trend’ and forms its
cultural realism (Lian, 2011:199). It arguably matches the critical thinking of the Frankfurt
School. In other words, the feature of the popular culture is precisely out of the need to criticize
“instrumental rationality” that the Frankfurt School believe, relating to that culture can be
transmitted through the medium of communication, and if communication emphasizes the
appropriateness and effectiveness of its channels, then speeches and images can possibly
penetrate into the public, thus, to create specific mass or popular culture. In this sense, it might
not difficult to understand why Mickey Mouse can last for ages, and the image of Ne Zha has
made Chinese audiences unforgettable, because these characters are shown in popular
animation works and they become the symbol of ‘popularity’.
Since the 1950s, nearly 300 animated films have entered Chinese cinema; especially in late
1980s, movies or TV series such as Black Cat Sheriff (1984-1987), Calabash Brothers (1986-
1987), etc. were popular with audiences. In recent years, audience are likely to watch
animations such as Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf (2005), Boonie Bears (2012), The Monkey
King: Hero is Back (2015), Ne Zha: I am the Destiny (2019) and so on. It can be said that animated
movies bring remarkable characters and they are favorite for all ages of children and adults
(Ding, 2019:55).
First of all, Chinese animated films have added new elements in design characters to attract
audience. For instance, Jiang Liuer, as a naggingly accompanied monk in Monkey King: Hero is
Back can be seen as a comic role, bringing audience a lot of fun. The design of the characters in
Ne Zha: I am the Destiny can be said to be a milestone in animation filmmaking, breaking the
stereotype that main characters are good people with good looking, and enemies are bad ones
with ugly face. Both Ne Zha and Ao Bin are rebels, along with Taiyi Zhenren, who speaks with a
strong Sichuan dialect, and his rival Shen Gongbao, who suffers from stuttering. These
characters make audience burst out laughing because they are anti-traditional, and they
perform an entertaining function in the animation. As Liu Kewen and Deng Tingting noted:
Traditional Chinese mythical stories have been produced as animated films in recent years.
However, creators not simply copied the myths, they adapted them by reconstructing the
characters and setting new frameworks for the storyline. (2021:136)
In addition, the recent works frequently apply three-dimensional technology into the films,they
have changed traditional water ink painting and line-sketching arts mode, and brought
audience a remarkable visual experience. The three-dimensional shooting technology has also
been used by a vast number of filmmakers, in Ne Zha: I am the Destiny, for instance, characters
with various kinds of plots displayed lively in front of the audience, to some extent, it satisfied
audience in a modern way of watching the movie. This potentially confirms animated films an
indisputable fact that they have been becoming one of the sections of the popular culture (Ma,
et al., 2011:12).
Meanwhile, in doing background music, animated movies are no longer the ones with children’s
melodies but conform to the need of the audience. Looking back to the earlier animated movies,
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the prevalence of folk songs was frequently integrated into the animations. In late 1980s,
animation has once again experienced a boom period because of the penetration of pop music.
Audience can still remember that Zhang Xinzhe and other pop singers who involved in singing
the theme songs. While the recent works bring audience a new sense of sensation. In other
words, in doing the theme music, the composers creatively try merging the modern into the
classical; in Ne Zha: I am the destiny, for example, the theme song is composed in rapping and
rhyming style, and have attracted lots of Chinese youngsters.
It can be seen that the development of the animated films has gradually become a kind of art
form with diverse and integrated cultural elements. Watching animated films is no longer the
kids’ patent, adults are audiences as well, as they enjoy what the animated movies have brought
them consonance when they see the picture, sense the plot, and listen to the music, all of which
can be translated into popular factors and may spread widely over a period of time (Ma, et al.,
2011:12).
TWO MAJOR BOOSTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE SCHOOL:AMERICAN
CARTOONS AND JAPANESE ANIME
The continuing expansion of the audience also illustrates the effectiveness of new media
dissemination. That is to say, the rapid development of new media has broken traditional
constraints on both time and space and brought communicative opportunities for Chinese
animations to go global; while at the same time, such rapidness and promptness also
demonstrates the possibilities of information exchange in animated filmmaking, to a certain
extent.
However, in the study of Chinese animations, Chinese scholars advocated the Japan-US styles
in previous years, causing ‘Chinese Wind’ to be in the production of ‘aphasia’ as an interesting
debate topic (Wang & Hou,2020: 115). For this, Yuan Dingsheng pointed out:
There have been two main situations which relate to the Western academic influences on China.
One is that, using Western academic paradigms to interpret Chinese phenomena. This might be
in line with the strategy of globalization of the Western culture in the post-colonial era, and
became a fundamental influence on Chinese scholars, their views on understanding China and
the world. Another one is that, Chinese academia copied the Western conceptual structure in
its entirety, gradually causing a Western-based academic ‘ecology invasion’. (2003, p.78-9)
Reverse Thinking of the American Cartoons
There is no doubt that film production is usually influenced by Hollywood or Disney styles.
Some of the Chinese filmmakers are growing up by learning and imitating the American model,
and this becomes one of the reasons why Chinese scholars are worried about Chinese cultural
aphasia. However, if, asking these scholars to take a closer look at the American dominant
styles, they would not simply conclude that the works belong to an ‘innate talent for
entertainment’, or they are benefited from the result of an established ‘free-market’. Indeed, the
success of the Disney style may relate to the huge advantage of an American symbol (Li,
2016:175).
First of all, one of the common characteristics of American commercial animation films is that,
American cartoon makers have reproduced their works by adapting cultural resources of other
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Tang, H., Gong, X., & Qi, L. (2022). Beyond the Context of Cultural Confidence: A Study of Communication Competence of the Chinese School.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(1). 385-396.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.91.11555
countries while they aim at promoting American values. For example, Beauty and the Beast
(1991, see Figure 1) is taken from French folklore, The Lion King (1994) is derived from a
British literature work Hamlet, and Mulan (1998) tells a story of old China in Northern Dynasty
(see Figure 2). These animations have injected modern American behaviors, life and values
into the genes of other nations.
Figure 1: Beauty and the Beast (1991) Figure 2: Mulan (1998)
Source: https://image.baidu.com/
Second, an obvious tradition of American cartoons is that, the works describe the humanistic
landscape of other countries as exotic ‘others’ (Li, 2016:176). The cartoons mentioned in the
above section, for example, whether they are related to the romance of France, the sense of
glory of British blood, or a heroine of the Chinese style, they are endowed as imagined
characters by American filmmakers. Of course, such American-based cartoons are also good at
combining elements of the ‘others’, while the principle of this combination is that, it separates
the original characters from audience of the original ‘other’ regions, so that they see the new
characters as not only different but also ‘interesting’ and ‘attracting’ (Ma et al., 2011:11). Take,
the design of Shrek, it breaks the habitual plot mode of ‘Heroes + Beauties’. In that film, audience
see that Snow White slapped Cinderella, and that the King was a dwarf(see Figure 3). This anti- traditional storyline invisibly gives full play to an entertaining characteristic of the animation,
forcing audience to reshape their sense of animated aesthetics.
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Figure 3: Shrek
Source: https://image.baidu.com/
In this sense, or to simply put, the so-called American-based cartoons with Disney styles can be
understood as the re-evaluation of socio-cultures of the others by American filmmakers. This
process of reconstructing the cultures of the others may carry exclusions for certain reasons,
along with the sense of cultural aggression that can be seen as inevitable in making Disney
cartoons.
Japanese Anime as the Representation of National Culture
In the process of making animated productions, not only American cartoons, Japanese anime
has also and always attracted attentions. The landscape of Japanese anime integrates nature,
humanity and ecology, as Li Ting commented:
The environment is not set as a supporting role in Japanese anime. Instead, it lives
independently and conveys emotions of the anime works.” (Li, 2016:174)
Li’s viewpoint implicitly claims that Japanese anime adheres to its national style, though
folklore and myths are used in films, the theme of the anime has always been the exploration of
the relation between human and the nature, war and peace, loyalty and betrayal, etc., wrapped
in a strong spirit with Yamato or Samurai as national ideology in Japanese culture.
In the first place, Japanese anime applies Japanese style to its filmmaking. From creation of the
characters, or narration of the plot, to setting of the scenery, they can be seen as patterns of
Japanese culture. For example, Miyazaki’s Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984, see Figure
4) and Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986, see Figure 5) borrowed from the Greek Poems and
English landscapes, but the use of line-drawing becomes a unique style of the Japanese anime.
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Tang, H., Gong, X., & Qi, L. (2022). Beyond the Context of Cultural Confidence: A Study of Communication Competence of the Chinese School.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(1). 385-396.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.91.11555
Figure 4: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Figure 5: Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Source: https://image.baidu.com/
In addition, Japanese anime are likely to merge the stories with oriental philosophy and
reflected the conceptions in their works. The film Spirited Away (2001, see Figure 6) describes
the term ‘Greed’ as human nature as well as the swamp of the lost souls, and Ponyo on the Cliff
(2008, see Figure 7) is seen as a metaphor for the infinite vitality of the ocean.
Figure 6: Spirited Away Figure 7: Ponyo on the Cliff
Source: https://image.baidu.com/
Perhaps it is the series of Japanese anime that potentially help moviegoers share the legacy of
Japanese culture and spirit; the consequence of this rather disseminates the perception of
Japanese anime, and continues to encourage the creation of every new work.
An Eco-Critique of the Chinese Animations
The breakthrough and popularity of the American cartoons and Japanese anime have been
meeting with audience’s interest, leading the two terms (cartoons and anime) to be identified
as cultural symbol and artistic pattern of the two nations, which also are deeply rooted in the
heart of the animation industry. But this might not be the case in China. In other words, it is not
easy to define Chinese animations as cartoons or anime as American or Japanese ones, except
they can be seen as general animation works. The generality of frequent cultural
communications pushes Chinese animation filmmakers to create animated works under the