Traditional Harmonious Culture

The production of The Huang Di Epic, which has been named quality animation engineering project of Zhengzhou City, started in 2010. The creative team included some of the country’s best scriptwriters, folklorists, animation directors, animators, composers, and actors, who spoke the parts of various characters. After meticulous research and in-depth study, these specialists collected and combined numerous books on the Yellow Emperor, folklore, and historical data. Three years of painstaking efforts later, they produced the animation screenplay.

The team went to the site of the Banquan Battle between the Yellow Emperor and Yan Emperor in Zhuolu County, Hebei Province, to the Xuanyuan Hillock in Xinzheng City, Henan Province, and to Juci Mountain. They made detailed studies of the Yellow Emperor City, Chiyou Fortress, mysterious petroglyphs, and rock carvings. The data gave them the materials needed for the Epic’s historical background, plot structure, characters, and other fundamentals necessary to portray the Chinese civilization as it was more than 5,000 years ago.

"The Huaxia civilization lasted 5,000 years due to its pursuit of harmony, whereby on defeating a rival, rather than eliminate it, the victor tried to assimilate it and create a new unification. This is plain to see from the merest glance at Chinese history," Zhang Zhenyu said. He emphasized this point throughout the creation of the screenplay, and it resulted in the rejection of the first 300,000-character draft of the screenplay. "Our harmonious culture implies peace, concord, and harmony," Zhang emphasized. Zhou Fengying, general manager of Beijing Glorious Animation Company, agrees. "What does the term "Yan-Huang descendant" imply? Through this animation series we want our audiences to know that after bloody battles, the Yan Emperor and Yellow Emperor achieved unification and created a harmonious world. They thus created Chinese history. Chinese culture is extensive and profound. In making this TV series we learned our own history. We hope our audience will perceive the fountainhead of the Huaxia civilization through this animation series, and understand that the descendants of the Chinese nation throughout the world share this common root," Zhou said.

Director Zhu Min holds that as a major TV series, The Huang Di Epic differs from conventional animation features. Its historic mission is to disseminate the Yellow Emperor culture worldwide. Its form and mode of expression are innovated and geared to international norms. The battle scenes are hence magnificent, and the historical scenes vivid and spectacular. As regards characterization, the team was guided by aestheticism and subtlety, and included contemporary elements in the characters’ costume and ornaments that appeal to the modern aesthetic. The narration also captures such aspects of this remote civilization as the creation of written language and metal smelting, as well as silk manufacture.