Relatable storyline, well-developed characters helps "Ne Zha 2" resonate with audiences: expert

The carefully crafted characters and relatable storytelling in the Chinese animated sensation "Ne Zha 2" can resonate across cultures and strike a chord with cinemagoers all around the world, according to a Chinese animation expert.

The film has shattered numerous box office records since it was released during the Chinese New Year and on Tuesday dethroned Disney's 2024 picture "Inside Out 2" to become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time.

As the long-awaited sequel to the 2019 animated adventure "Ne Zha", the new movie draws inspiration from a mythological tale dating back to China's Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) period, showcasing cutting-edge special effects which demonstrate the creativity of China's movie industry and highlight the country's cultural charm.

Wang Lei, dean of the School of Animation and Digital Arts under the Communication University of China, believes that the thoughtfully created characters in the production are a big part of the film's success.

"The film is very meticulous in its character development. 'Ne Zha 2' actually has a lot of characters, but even the minor ones are not just casually thrown in. They are not portrayed as stereotypical just because they are animated roles -- there is a story behind every one of them. The film is truly crafted with great care, and has been well created with commercial filmmaking techniques of the [animation] genre, to tell its story," he said.

A large production crew of over 4,000 members from 138 Chinese companies worked together over the past five years to create the visually-impressive blockbuster, but Wang stressed that it is the film's story that strikes a chord with global audiences.

"When storytelling is done with sincerity and simplicity, it can resonate across cultures and people can all relate to it. This film demonstrates cultural confidence, and its creators have tried to craft a well-told story from a fundamental storytelling perspective. Whether it be Chinese or international audiences, I believe they can all feel this essence," said Wang.

"Me Zha 2" has enjoyed unprecedented success since its release on the Chinese mainland on Jan 29, becoming the first film to earn over one-billion-U.S.-dollars in a single market and the first non-Hollywood title to join the coveted billion-dollar club.

Relatable storyline, well-developed characters helps "Ne Zha 2" resonate with audiences: expert

After over five years of construction, the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway that traverses the Tianshan Mountains in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region opened to traffic on Friday, cutting the time of driving from the southern to the northern parts of the towering mountains by half.

Thanks to the entry into operation of the expressway, the travel time from the regional capital of Urumqi, north of the Tianshan Mountains, to Korla, south of the Tianshan Mountains, has been shortened from seven hours to about 3.5 hours.

The Tianshan Mountains, with a length of 2,500 km, spans across the whole the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Urumqi-Yuli Expressway traversing it is 324.7-kilometer long. It includes 12 interchanges, 17 tunnels and hundreds of bridges, culverts and passages. Among them, the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel is the key project.

"With a total length of 22.13 kilometers, the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel is the world's longest expressway tunnel, and has the deepest highway shaft worldwide, creating two world records," said Song Hailiang, president of China Communications Construction Company.

The Urumqi-Yuli Expressway not only links the Urumqi metropolitan area, the northern Xinjiang urban belt, and the southern Xinjiang city cluster, but also provides convenient connectivity between the three major pilot free trade zones in Urumqi, Kashgar and Khorgos, significantly reducing logistics costs, effectively promoting mutual complementation of resource advantages between northern and southern Xinjiang, and accelerating the two-way circulation of northern Xinjiang's energy and equipment manufacturing with southern Xinjiang's agricultural products and distinctive resources.

It also connects with multiple important highways at home and abroad.

"The Urumqi-Yuli Expressway connects with New Eurasian Land Bridge, and multiple economic corridors' major arteries linking up China to Central Asia, west Asia and Pakistan. Meanwhile, it also connects with the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Therefore, operation of the expressway will further consolidate Xinjiang's role as a strategic hub in the 'dual circulation' of domestic and international markets," said Guo Sheng, deputy director of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region's Department of Transportation.

Expressway traversing north, south Xinjiang opens to traffic