If at First You Don’t Succeed…
The couple’s modest studio, a 50-square-meter room, is located in Wuhou District of Chengdu City, Si- chuan Province. This is also their home. On one side is a bed and on the other, a sizable table on which there are three computers placed side by side. There are another three computers set up on the balcony because of the limited space indoors. Tang and Zeng also have a furry friend – a fat cat named Bai Xiaoma that the couple jokingly refers to as their “supervisor.”
Tang was born in 1978 and Zeng, in 1977. Classmates at middle school, their teacher sat them together in an effort to restrain chatty Tang through reserved Zeng. The two “deskmates” soon discovered their common interest – comic books. Tang has been keen on cartoons since childhood and enjoyed recreating comic book pages, imitating their style. Zeng excelled in painting. With just a few strokes, she could bring a cartoon character to life on the page.
It was a great shame for the two animation enthusiasts that in 1996, when they left school for higher education, there was no such thing as a major in animation in Chinese institutes. Tang went to study chemistry at Peking University while Zeng learned clinical medicine at West China University of Medical Sciences (now West China Center of Medical Sciences, Sichuan University).
During his second year, Tang took on some design work at a games company. He missed so many classes because of his commitment to his job that he was eventually advised to quit his course. Zeng spent her spare time learning about digital painting software and one summer, took an internship at an animation company. In 2001, Tang went back to Chengdu and established an advertising company. At that time, Zeng, who still had two more years left of her master’s degree, decided to graduate early and join Tang’s company.
In 2007, the Chinese animation industry entered a stage of rapid development. Some investors thought highly of the industry and were willing to invest in budding animators, and Tang was one such lucky recipient. With the funds he received, he set up an animation company. He hit the ground running, recruiting employees and starting work on producing a 26-episode animated television series on Beijing folklore. In its heyday, the company had a 400-square-meter office and over 70 employees.
The animation industry demands high investment but produces little in the way of immediate returns. After several rounds of investment, the investors still could not see much profit, so they decided to withdraw the funds five years later. Tang had no choice but to dismiss his team. He and Zeng were left unemployed.
“After five years of hard work, we had failed. We went back home, but we still wanted to try to succeed in the field we loved. That was how Entrance Exam came about,” said Zeng. The funny story and lovable characters mask any hint of pessimism experienced by the couple because of their setback. Zeng said, “For over a year, I was doing the thing I love with the person I love. That’s the definition of happiness.”
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