New animated short film about celebrated Chinese diplomat Wellington Koo becomes hit in China

Source:Global Times    Published: 2018/9/21 

When the middle-aged Gu Weijun, better known as Wellington Koo in the West, China's first representative to the then newly formed League of Nations, stepped onto a train bound for Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, 86 years ago following Japan's occupation of Northeast China, he most likely knew he was undertaking an extraordinary journey that could be written into history. 

However, Koo probably never imagined that nearly nine decades later this journey would act as the opening scene of a popular animated work that has earned him a large number of fans in China. 

A 15-minute animated film depicting the well-known diplomat's efforts to reveal the truth behind the puppet regime Japan established in Northeast China has become a huge online hit. Titled Missing You, or Ye Si in Chinese, the animated work presents the history of that time in a soft and subtle way that has won the hearts of numerous viewers. Released in late August, the short film currently has more than 5.84 million views and an exceptional rating of 9.8/10 on Chinese ACG video sharing platform Bilibili - a rare achievement for a historical film. 

Restoring history 

The short film is actually the fifth such work in the larger animated Choir of Chinese Poems series, which has already earned a large fan base at home and abroad since its debut in 2015. The popular franchise, which has also been developed into books, is well-known for its exquisite art style, rich portrayal of Chinese culture and subtle storytelling. With each episode themed around an ancient Chinese poem, the fifth takes famous Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet Li Bai's Quiet Night Thought as its inspiration. 

"The poem is about feeling homesick, so we developed that theme into love and longing for one's motherland, which fits Koo's story perfectly," Peng Qingzheng, director of the animated series, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

The story unfolds one quiet night in the US as the elderly Koo recalls the role he played in bringing the truth about the Japanese occupation of Northeast China in 1932 to light. 

The occupation started after Japanese forces staged a bombing of a railway line in Northeast China on September 18, 1931. Using this as a pretext, Japan quickly overtook China's three northeastern provinces and established a puppet regime in early 1932 that it tried to present to the world as a legitimate government. Despite the risk, Koo departed to the region to investigate the fake harmonious society that the Japanese regime tried to establish. 

"We did a lot of in-depth historical research. Despite some artistic embellishment, we have recreated about 70 to 80 percent of the original history," Peng said. 

Some details in the short film are based on historical accounts. For example, a scene where a patriot tries to deliver a letter to Koo at a train station but is stopped by Japanese soldiers before succeeding and another scene where people are forced to put on a parade to show support for the puppet regime are based on true events.

The tense plot and the hand-painted Chinese animation style create a unique viewing experience, telling a story in a gentle and subtle way. While the previous works in the series focus more on ancient romance and familial love, this is the first time that an episode featured a serious historical event. According to Peng, this was an experimental project to prove their art style could portray different types of stories. 

Fortunately, this experiment has been a success. 

On Bilibili, the film's comment section is filled with more than 16,740 posts full of praise for the work. 

True Chinese style  

Peng indicated that a "true Chinese style" has been the key to his animated films' success. 

"Including Chinese elements does not equate to having a Chinese style," Peng stressed, noting that while many popular live-action and animated films nowadays try to include Chinese elements by bringing in Chinese stars or featuring Chinese clothing or architecture, this does not make them Chinese. In Peng's opinion, true "Chineseness" lies in the nature of a film's characters as well as the cultural system and way of telling a story. 

Peng pointed to the Kung Fu Panda series as an example. Although the films are set in ancient China, the protagonist's personality, the way he thinks and acts and the entire story structure are still very Hollywood. However, when it comes to the Choir of Chinese Poems series, Peng explained that feelings are expressed in a more subtle, culturally-rooted manner and the characters are more introverted. 

"Look at the first film Lovesickness. The word 'love' is not mentioned in any of the dialogue, but it is clearly represented in the red bean [in the film]," Peng said.  

In celebrated Tang Dynasty poet Wang Wei's poem Red Bean, which inspired the short film, red beans represent lovesickness, a symbol only those familiar with Chinese culture would be aware of.

Talking about the future of the series, Peng said that work on the sixth episode is currently underway and will take Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) poet Lu You's Ode to the Plum Blossom as its inspiration.