''Lotus Lantern'' () is a
Chinese animated feature film
A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
based on the Chinese fairy tale ''
The Magic Lotus Lantern'', produced by
Shanghai Animation Film Studio
Shanghai Animation Film Studio (), also known as SAFS (), is a Chinese animation studio based in Shanghai, China, as part of the Shanghai Film Group Corporation. Shanghai Animation Film Studio was officially established in April 1957, led by pi ...
.
Story
The story is based on the traditional Chinese
folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
about a boy named Chenxiang. His mother,
Sanshengmu, is a goddess, and his father, Liu Yanchang, was a mortal. Since their marriage was forbidden, his maternal uncle,
Erlang Shen, who was a god, punishes them by killing Liu Yanchang. Sanshengmu escapes and gives birth, but
Chen Xiang grows up without knowledge of his ancestry. Sanshengmu possesses a magical Lotus Lantern whose light can scare away evil. When Erlang Shen, a strict and powerful god, kidnaps Chen Xiang, Sanshengmu fights to save him.
Unfortunately, Erlang Shen is victorious and Chen Xiang is forced to live in his palace on the sacred mountains. Erlang Shen then imprisons Sanshengmu beneath a mountain for her crimes. Although he is quite young, Chen Xiang manages to escape from the palace, taking the magical lotus lantern that Sanshengmu lost during the battle.
After surviving adventures with many beloved characters of Chinese mythology, Chen Xiang finally matures into a courageous young man who must battle Erlang Shen to win Sanshengmu's freedom and fall in love at the same time.
Main characters
* Chenxiang: Half-god boy. His mother is a goddess and his father is a mortal. He gets through tons of adventures to win his mother's freedom from his uncle Er langshen.
* Sanshengmu: Powerful Goddess who possesses a magical lotus lantern. She fell in love with a mortal and gave birth to Chenxiang. For which she is imprisoned beneath Hua Mountain.
* Er-lang Shen: Er-lang Shen may be a deified version of several semi-mythical folk heroes who help regulate China's torrential floods, dating variously from the Qin, Sui and Jin dynasties. A later Buddhist source identify him as the second son of the Northern Heavenly King Vaishravana.
See also
*
Coco Lee
*
List of animated feature films
References
External links
Official Site of "Shanghai Animation Film Studio"La Trobe UniversityLotus Lantern and the Making of the First Commercial Animated Feature Film in Mainland China──An Interview with Animator Chang Guangxi*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lotus Lantern (1999 Film)
Chinese animated feature films
1999 films
1990s Mandarin-language films
1999 animated films
Works based on Magic Lotus Lantern