[2] After the 1990s, film studios gradually gave up ink-wash animation production due to the high demand in cost and techniques.
[3] In the late 1950s, inspired by China's legendary painter Qi Baishi's water-ink painting, Chinese animation industry pioneers began to explore ways to turn Chinese traditional paintings into cartoon form.
But by the 1990s, animation studios without government funding were urged to produce cheap television series instead of costly ink-wash production.
However, each frame required complex techniques and much work to present the artistic style of ink-wash painting.
[7] Produced in 1963, this film uses Chinese ink paintings to depict the charming relationship between a young cow herding boy with extraordinary flute playing skills and his faithful water buffalo.
It turns out that the buffalo is drawn to the beautiful scenery of a waterfall and refuses to return to the herding boy.
Story is told through animation and the accompanying music, therefore the film is entirely accessible to a non-Chinese speaking audience.
[9] Directed by Wu Qiang and Tang Cheng, an old man and his granddaughter rescue an injured young deer.
The film tells the simple tale of an impoverished elderly zither musician and a young boy.
State-owned studios lost their government funding, and were urged to produce cheap television series to support themselves.