The University of British Columbia
UBC - A Place of Mind
The University of British Columbia Vancouver campus
Chinese Film Classics
     
  • Home
  • The Chinese Film Classics Project
    • Acknowledgments
    • For Educators
    • Contribute
  • Directory of Early Chinese Films
  • Chinese Film Classics Course
    • About the Course
    • Module 1: Laborer’s Love (1922)
    • Module 2: Sports Queen (1934)
    • Module 3: Goddess (1934)
    • Module 4: The Great Road (1934)
    • Module 5: New Women (1935)
    • Module 6: Song at Midnight (1937)
    • Module 7: Street Angels (1937)
    • Module 8: Long Live the Missus! (1947)
    • Module 9: Spring River Flows East (1947)
    • Module 10: Spring in a Small Town (1948)
    • Module 11: Crows and Sparrows (1949)
    • Module 12: Course Wrap-Up
  • Book
  • Resources on Early Chinese Cinema

Princess Iron Fan 鐵扇公主 (1941)

The film:

China’s first feature-length animated sound film adapts a story from chapters 69-72 of the Ming dynasty novel Journey to the West 西遊記. The Tang monk Tripitaka and his companions Sun Wukong (Monkey), Zhu Bajie (Pigsy), and Sha Monk (Sandy) arrive at the Mountain of Flames and find it impassible, so they seek to borrow the palm-leaf fan from Princess Iron Fan, who is not easily persuaded.

Made and released during Japan’s occupation of China, the film calls for people to keep the faith, work together, and literally go through fire to rid the world of a calamity.

Wan Guchan also worked on the art direction for the silent film Poor Daddy (1929).

Tieshan gongzhu
Alternative English titles: Princess Iron-Fan, The Princess with the Iron Fan
Producer: S.K. Chang (Zhang Shankun)
Screenplay: Wang Qianbai
Lead animators: Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan
Studio: China United Film Co. (Zhongguo lianhe yingye gongsi)
Year of release: 1941
English subtitles translated by Christopher Rea

Learn more:

Watch the wartime live-action film Hua Mu Lan (1939), an adaptation of the Mulan legend set in the Tang dynasty.

Watch other cartoons by the Wan brothers and other animators on the “Early Chinese animation” playlist.

Related Posts


Animation and Cartoons 卡通與漫畫
Early Chinese cinema included both animated films and live-action films with animated and illustrated sequences

City Scenes 1935 Wan bros cartoon

2021/03/01-05/12: Association for Chinese Animation Studies inaugural conference
A Zoom webinar featuring 19 panels of new academic research on Chinese animation, hosted by HKUST

Girl heroes of the grasslands

Animated Encounters (2019), by Daisy Yan Du
China’s role in the history of world animation has been trivialized or largely forgotten. In Animated Encounters Daisy Yan Du addresses this omission in her study of Chinese animation and its engagement with international forces during its formative period, the 1940s–1970s.

Animated Encounters 2019 by Daisy Du

Hua Mu Lan 木蘭從軍 (1939)
A young woman takes her father's place in the army and protects the Tang empire from invaders in this wartime adaptation of the Mulan legend.

Hua Mu Lan 1939

Youtube icon
Subscribe to the Modern Chinese YouTube Channel
© Christopher Rea
Vancouver Campus
,
Back to top
The University of British Columbia
  • Emergency Procedures |
  • Terms of Use |
  • Copyright |
  • Accessibility