SAFS produces a number of animated films in various art forms with Chinese artistic characteristics, including Jianzhi, Shuimohua, Puppetoon, Zhezhi (also known as origami), Shadow puppetry, etc.

As the director and the head of the studio, Te Wei led over 200 workers at the time to create educational and entertaining animated films for children.

The Magical Pen (1955) and The Conceited General (1956), two of the most representative films at the time, brought up attention worldwide and won a series of domestic and international awards.

[1] The founding of Shanghai Animation Film studio was also promoted by the "Hundred Flowers Campaign" in 1956, in which the government of the Communist Party encouraged the development and innovation of technology and art in China.

[1] After the success of The Magical Pen (1955) and The Conceited General (1956), the studio got additional support from the government, which encouraged them to study Western animation and develop its own models and methods that were truly Chinese.

Along with the creative techniques and outstanding Chinese artistry, a number of animated films have reached the top level internationally.

In the same period, Yu Zhenguang (1906-1991) directed the first folded-paper animation, A Clever Duckling (1963), featuring a folk craft technique called zhezhi (also known as Japanese origami).

The golden age ended with the outbreak of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, which dealt the animation film industry a hard blow, and limited the productivity of the studio.

Almost all the animated films produced before were prohibited, except The Cock Crows at Midnight (1964) by Yiou Lei, a puppet film about overthrowing evil landlords, and Two Heroic Sisters of the Grasslands (1964), directed by Qian Yunda and Tang Cheng, singing the praises of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party:[4] "There are countless stars in the sky.

The little shepherdesses grow under your leadership…" [Two Heroic Sisters of the Grasslands (1964)][2] Famous movies such as Buffalo Boy and the Flute (1963) and Havoc in Heaven (1961, 1964) were banned because of the "ignorance of class struggle" and the implication of overthrowing the government.

In the same year, Wang Shuchen and Yan Dingxian made The Little Balu (1973), a story of a boy who joined the liberation Red Army.

[6] In 1984, Shanghai Animation Film Studio adjusted the leadership, with Yan Dingxian as director and Te Wei as a consultant.

In 2004, the first installment of Big Ear Tutu animation series, directed by Su Da, was released and premiered on CCTV children's channel.

For many years in a row, it has been the champion of The Children's Channel of CCTV and the four big cartoon TV stations in terms of audience rating, with over 2 billion online voD.

[citation needed] In 2011, more than 50 years after Havoc in Heaven was released, the studio combined tradition with high technology and teamed up with the world's largest film and television post-production company to create a new 3D version of the classic work.