Wan Laiming

Wan Laiming (simplified Chinese: 万籁鸣; traditional Chinese: 萬籟鳴; pinyin: Wàn Làimíng; 18 January 1900 – 7 October 1997) was born in Nanjing, Qing dynasty. He was one of the Wan brothers who pioneered the Chinese animation industry, and became China's first animator. As the director of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, he would raise the standard to International level before other historical events affected the industry.

Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan were twin brothers. They were the first ones to experiment with primitive film technology adapted from the United States and other parts of the world, and were often inspired by foreign cartoons that made it to Shanghai. In 1919 they worked in the fine art departments at Shanghai Commercial Press. They were exposed to early technologies like zoetrope with galloping horses that animate on rotation. Other cinema techniques like zoetrope projection principles were being studied.

In the early 1920s on a summer evening, the brothers were squeezed into a small attic. They used a thick book and drew pictures of a cat and mouse. They bent the corners in such a way that it animated the cat catching the mouse. The brothers would spend their days testing and experimenting.

In 1922 they made the first cartoon short Shuzhendong Chinese Typewriter which was a commercial used for the Commercial Press. At the time one of their first technological challenge was to make the background expose. Their technique caused grease that prevented them from seeing anything but simple lines in the background.

In 1924 they were invited to the Great Wall Film Company (長城畫片公司) to try and animate a film under studio terms. Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan were then recognized as China's animation pioneers when they successfully produced the first animation short Uproar in the Studio running 10 to 12 minutes long in black and white. By 1932 one of the Wan brothers, Wan Dihuan, would voluntarily leave the Great Wall Film company for his own photography studio. By 1935 the Wan Brothers would launch the first animation with sound titled The Camel’s Dance.

...
Wikipedia