Te Wei (; in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
) was a Chinese
manhua artist and animator. He is probably best known for the 1956 short animated film ''
The Proud General''. From about 1960, he worked in an
ink-wash animation style that was influenced by the painter
Qi Baishi. Not permitted to carry on his animation during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated go ...
, Te Wei regained a position of artistic influence in the late 1970s and the 1980s with a series of animated films in painterly style.
Biography
Te Wei was born as Sheng Song () to a poor family in Shanghai. As a teenager, he started drawing political cartoons, and would later make a living drawing anti‑Japanese propaganda. After
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also Romanization of Chinese, romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the List of national founde ...
's seizing power in 1949, an executive in charge of the
Changchun Film Studio would remember Te Wei's cartoons, and approached him to lead the studio's animation department, despite his total lack of experience in animation. The Japanese animator
Tadahito Mochinaga served as his mentor, and the two became lifelong friends.
Within a year, the studio was
relocated to Shanghai, where they enjoyed a brief period of artistic freedom with governmental funding during the
Hundred Flowers Campaign. Initially, much was learned by studying
Soviet animation, but the studio soon started experimenting with techniques based on domestic traditions. ''
The Proud General'' (1956) shows influences from both Chinese culture, with character designs and music inspired by the
Peking opera, and Soviet animators such as
Ivan Ivanov-Vano, as well as western ones such as
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
.
During a visit to the studio, then Vice Premier
Chen Yi suggested that they make an animated version of the paintings of
Qi Baishi. A group of animators led by Te Wei thus set out to create ''
Where is Mama''. The film was the first to make use of
ink-wash animation, and would go on to win several awards, both in China and internationally. It was followed by ''
The Cowboy's Flute'' (1963) in the same technique.
In 1964, as Mao was gearing up for the Cultural Revolution, the studio was shut down, and Te Wei was placed in solitary confinement for a year. To keep his spirits up, he would sketch on the glass pane of a table that stood in his small room, erasing the drawings when he heard a guard approaching. Te Wei spent the following years in exile in the countryside, and was not able to return to the studio until 1975. The constraints of the Cultural Revolution were starting to loosen, and Mao's death in 1976 was followed by a new period of artistic vigour.
The 1980s would be an intense period for Te Wei, who found himself in charge of some 500 workers at the studio. Still benefitting from state funding, the studio produced some of its most acclaimed and experimental work. Having stepped down as studio president in 1984, Te Wei directed the feature film ''
Monkey King Conquers the Demon
Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
'' (1984), based on ''
Journey to the West'', and the acclaimed ''
Feeling from Mountain and Water'' (1988), that would turn out to be his last film.
In 1989, the Communist Party honored Te Wei by naming him one of the four outstanding filmmakers in China's history.
Filmography
* ''
The Proud General'' ( zh, t=驕傲的將軍, labels=no), 1956
* ''
Where is Mama'' ( zh, t=小蝌蚪找媽媽, labels=no), 1960
* ''
The Cowboy's Flute'' ( zh, s=牧笛, labels=no), 1963
* ''
Feeling from Mountain and Water'' ( zh, s=山水情, labels=no), 1988
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Te, Wei
1915 births
2010 deaths
Artists from Shanghai
Chinese animated film directors
Chinese animated film producers
Chinese animators
Chinese comics artists
Film directors from Shanghai