Animation wins big applause from foreign viewers in China

The Film Season For Diplomats event held on Saturday afternoon Photo: Courtesy of the organizer

The animated summer hit, Chang'an San Wan Li, or 30,000 Miles from Chang'an, set a new record by reaching a total of more than 1.8 billion yuan ($249 million) in early September, which it earned through solid word-of-mouth not only among Chinese moviegoers but also audiences from overseas.

After watching the film on Saturday afternoon during the Film Season For Diplomats event, attended by more than 300 diplomats and their family members from countries including Italy, Japan and Kazakhstan, most foreign audiences told the Global Times that they were "amazed" by the way that the film showed the prosperous and turbulent history of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) through the profound friendship between Chinese poet Gao Shi and the master of romantic poetry Li Bai, making the untouchable poets of the Tang Dynasty more accessible for them. 

Promotional material of 30,000 Miles from Chang'an Photo: Courtesy of Light Chaser Animation Studios

The segment of the movie featuring the poem Invitation to Wine, the pinnacle of the entire story, was praised by many of the foreign moviegoers at the event for its enchanting visual language.

Sami Parviz, an officer from the Embassy of the Republic of Tajikistan in China, told the Global Times that as romantic literature also plays an important role in Tajikistan, he is fond of the art form of poetry and he especially favors Li Bai among the Chinese poets. He noted that he was surprised at just how well 30,000 Miles from Chang'an depicted the romanticism gene and conveyed the aesthetics of poetry through an audio-visual feast. He added that the inclusiveness and integration of Chinese culture showed by Chinese animated films through diverse expressive techniques is sure to help the industry to go further in the world.

Yu Zhou, president of Light Chaser Animation Studios which produced the film, told the Global Times that the huge success of the animated film, including the resulting surge in the popularity of traditional Chinese poetry, was beyond their expectations, while the high praise from the foreign attendees at the event mainly comes down to the film's good story and the well-translated subtitles.

The English subtitles for the film were produced by a team led by Australian sinologist Linda Jaivin, who is well-known for her subtitle work on the masterpiece Farewell My Concubine starring the late Leslie Cheung.

A moviegoer from the Middle East echoed that he got to learn more about the history of China's Tang Dynasty through the film and thanks to the subtitle, he could be able to understand better about Chinese poems.

Yu Zhou, president of Light Chaser Animation Studios, the studio that produced the film, told the Global Times that the huge success of the animated film, including the resulting surge in the popularity of traditional Chinese poetry, was beyond their expectations, while the high praise from the foreign attendees at the event mainly comes down to the film's good story and the well translated subtitles.

The English subtitles for the film were produced by a team led by Australian sinologist Linda Jaivin, who is well-known for her subtitle work on the masterpiece Farewell My Concubine starring the late Leslie Cheung.

A moviegoer from the Middle East echoed that he got to learn more about the history of China's Tang Dynasty through the film and thanks to the subtitle, he could be able to understand better about Chinese poems.

Mario lzzi, a cultural officer from the Italian Embassy in China, said that the civilizations of China and Italy have their own characteristics, and both have left excellent chapters in the history of human civilization. The exchange of film and television culture can help the Italian people have a more intuitive understanding of China.