Princess Iron Fan
Directed by Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan in 1941, this landmark production is China's first feature-length animated film and the first of its kind in Asia, adapted from the legend of the Flaming Mountain.
Princess Iron Fan is a 1941 Chinese animated feature film co-directed by brothers Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan. It premiered on November 19, 1941, at the "Greater Shanghai," "Xinguang," and "Huguang" cinemas in Shanghai. It was the first animated feature film in China and the first in Asia. Adapted from the Flaming Mountain episode of Journey to the West, the film tells the story of Sun Wukong and his master Tang Sanzang as they travel west to the Flaming Mountain, where they seek to borrow the Plantain Fan from Princess Iron Fan to extinguish the fires, leading to a battle of wits and courage with the Bull Demon King. Inspired by Disney's 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Wan brothers were determined to produce an animation of equal quality for China. The production took one year and four months, employing over 200 artists and using more than 200,000 sheets of paper. Completed in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, the film used an allegorical form to metaphorically represent the national struggle. The work was not only a massive success within China but was also exported to Japan, Southeast Asia, and other regions. It profoundly influenced a young Osamu Tezuka, inspiring him to dedicate himself to manga and animation; it also prompted the Japanese Navy to commission the first Japanese animated feature, Momotaro: Sacred Sailors (1945). It stands as a milestone in the history of East Asian animation.