Animation of Experiment: The Science Education Film and Useful Animation in China

From the early 1950s to the mid-1990s, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) produced numerous science education films. Many utilized animated effects, such as illustrations, maps and cartoons, to promote the reception of scientific knowledge and ideological messages by audiences. Current scholarship on Chinese animation history stresses films made by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, neglecting animation created by filmmakers in science education film studios. In this article, the author argues that the history of useful animation in science education films provides a different approach to understanding Chinese animation as the animation of experiment. Animation functioned as scenes of experiment that enabled science education films to deliver messages of knowledge; they also inspired amateur experiment with animated filmmaking and experimental animation practices in the post-socialist era. This article analyses animation for science education films, amateur animation practices and experimental works inspired by, or that benefited from, science education filmmaking. It will enrich the scholarship on Chinese animation and shed new light on the history of Chinese animation and film culture in the PRC.