Lots of Peking Opera characters like, from left, Sun Yujiao, Bao Zheng and Yang Yuhuan appear in the new animated movies. [Photo/Shanghai Daily]
The Shanghai Institute of Visual Art has made 25 animated movies in a Chinese ink style about Peking Opera and hopes to show them in schools.
The films were produced over a period of three years and cost more than 10 million yuan ($1.5 million), with funding from Chang'an Animation Co, the institute told a press conference yesterday.
It said it wants to make another 75 movies on the same subject.
Investors and producers said they will talk to education authorities about showing the films in schools as a way to educate children about Peking Opera and Chinese painting.
"Peking Opera is already part of the curriculum in primary and secondary schools," said Sun Ping, a Peking Opera artist and member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
She said she will raise the subject at the next session of the People's Political Consultative Conference.
International schools will also be allowed to show the films, she said.
Motion capture techniques were used in the films, which were produced with the help of Peking Opera stars like Shanghai-based Guan Dongtian.
The digital images were then reproduced in a Chinese ink style. The films were directed by Wu Jun.
"Our purpose is to keep pupils interested, so the films just feature short passages from the operas," said Zhou Long, vice president of the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts.
"Once we have their interest, we hope they'll want to find out more about it," he said.
One of the movies is "The Drunk Beauty," which tells the story of a concubine called Yang Yuhuan in Tang Dynasty (618-907), while "The Empty City" tells the tale of Zhuge Liang, a famous politician and strategist who lived during Three Kingdoms period (220-280).
