News & stories
Chinese animation, from history and craft to the latest releases.
More topics
WATCH GUIDEFrom anime to donghua: follow what you love.
Time puzzles, offbeat comedy or expressive action? Three ways to explore Chinese animation, with room for the differences.
Read storyGUIDEWhere can I watch it in English?
A platform link, a subtitle listing and access in your country answer different questions. Here is how to read the Atlas watching notes.
Read storyGUIDEWhat is donghua? One word, countless worlds.
Chinese animation is a medium with room for myths, mysteries, comedy and quiet experiments. Here is a better way to find your first story.
Read story
HISTORYBefore the streaming era: Princess Iron Fan, 1941.
The Wan brothers brought Journey to the West to feature animation decades before today’s streaming series. Meet a foundational work of Asian animation.
Read story
HISTORYShanghai Animation Film Studio: a laboratory of imagination.
A studio history shaped by artistic experiments, traditional forms and changing conditions. Why its short films belong on a modern viewer’s map.
Read story
CRAFTWhen ink begins to move.
An introduction to Chinese ink-wash animation, from delicate aquatic forms to the landscapes of Feeling from Mountain and Water.
Read story
CRAFTPaper, shadows and a very hungry Pigsy.
Pigsy Eats Watermelon offers a route into Chinese cutout animation, where shape, joints and comic timing turn paper into performance.
Read story
CULTUREOne Monkey King, many animated journeys.
Sun Wukong travels across generations of animation. A guide to approaching adaptations as distinct interpretations of a shared literary world.
Read story
CULTUREWhy Nezha keeps returning to the screen.
From Nezha Conquers the Dragon King to contemporary retellings, a familiar mythic figure gives animators room to ask new questions.
Read story
SPOTLIGHTWhite Snake: a legend seen from a new beginning.
A spoiler-light introduction to Light Chaser Animation’s White Snake and the difference between a traditional story and a cinematic interpretation.
Read story
SPOTLIGHTJiang Ziya: when a heavenly order becomes a question.
A way into the 2020 animated feature through its central dilemma: what happens when duty and protecting one person pull in different directions?
Read story
SPOTLIGHTNew Gods: Yang Jian and the art of rebuilding a mythic world.
Legendary figures, family ties and an imaginative new setting. How to enter an adaptation without treating its world as a mythology textbook.
Read story
SPOTLIGHTBeyond immortals: the photographic premise of Link Click.
Chinese animation also has room for contemporary mystery. A spoiler-light way into Link Click through photographs, rules and human stakes.
Read story
SPOTLIGHTScissor Seven: enter through the joke.
A bumbling hairdresser-assassin offers another doorway into donghua. Use comedy, readable poses and character intentions as your viewing guide.
Read story
CRAFT2D, 3D and the space between.
A visual style is not a production recipe. Learn to separate technique, appearance and storytelling when you discuss Chinese animation.
Read story
HISTORYRestoring a classic means caring for every frame.
The preservation of Princess Iron Fan shows why a restoration is more than a bigger image: movement, layered artwork and sound all need attention.
Read storyGUIDENew to donghua? History, genres & your first classics.
A complete beginner’s atlas: a history timeline, 11 genre paths, 18 classic and modern works, four visual approaches, and three ways to choose your first watch.
Read storyCULTUREWuxia, xianxia & xuanhuan: find your fantasy world.
Martial heroes, immortal journeys and invented power systems: three useful terms, with room for overlap.
Read story
WATCH GUIDENever miss the next chapter
How to use the airing calendar, track a series, and keep release times in your own timezone.
Read story