Te Wei
Te Wei | |
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Te Wei (
Biography
Te Wei was born as Sheng Song (Chinese: 盛松) 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'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
During a visit to the studio, then Vice Premier
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 (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.[4]
Filmography
- The Proud General (驕傲的將軍), 1956
- Where is Mama (小蝌蚪找媽媽), 1960
- The Cowboy's Flute (牧笛), 1963
- Feeling from Mountain and Water (山水情), 1988
References
- ^ Swieringa, Bob (2021-12-01). "The ASIFA Prize Laureates: 35 Years Honoring Contributors to Independent Animated Film". International Animated Film Association. Archived from the original on 2022-03-15. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ "Chinese animation master dies at 95". China Internet Information Center. 2010-02-05. Archived from the original on 2021-02-27. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- ^ Coonan, Clifford (2010-02-05). "Chinese animator Te Wei dies". Variety. Archived from the original on 2015-12-13. Retrieved 2010-02-16.
- ^ "The Greatest Cartoonists of 20th Century China". Culture Shock. 2019-04-12. Archived from the original on 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- Bynum, Aaron H. "Remembering Te Wei". Animation Insider. Archived from the original on 2010-02-14. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- Clements, Jonathan. "Chinese Animation". Muramasa Industries. Archived from the original on 2007-01-06. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
- Dudok de Wit, Alex (2015-08-28). "Te Wei, founding father of Chinese animation". Sight & Sound. British Film Institute. Archivedfrom the original on 2022-02-20. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
- Lent, Jon A. (2002-03-15). "Te Wei and Chinese Animation: Inseparable, Incomparable". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on 2022-01-20. Retrieved 2017-07-08.
- "Te Wei" 特伟 (in Chinese). 2005-03-24. Archived from the original on 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
External links
- Te Wei at IMDb
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