Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979)

Li Jing is the general military leader in Chentangguan. After three and a half years' pregnancy, his wife gives birth to a flesh ball and a boy jumps out from the ball. A Taoist named Taiyi Zhenren comes to express congratulations. He names the boy Nezha and gives him a universe ring and firing wheels, accepting Nezha as his disciple. When Nezha is seven years old, the area is afflicted with severe drought, while the dragon king of the eastern sea keeps a blind eye to it and refuses to give an artificial precipitation and worse that he asks Yecha (an evil spirit) to snatch little children from the beaches. The virtuous Nezha kills Yecha and the son of the dragon king, Aobing. The dragon king goes to Heaven to bring a case but is beaten brutally by Nezha. Afterwards, the dragon king invites his three brothers in revenge, flooding Chentangguan and asking for Nezha's life. Nezha wants to fight back but is refrained by his father. Therefore he bravely commits suicide by cutting his throat in defense of all residents in Chentangguan. After that, Taiyi Zhenren lets Nezha be revived from death by rebuilding his body with fresh lotus roots and lotus flowers. The revived Nezha, portrayed as a divine warrior with three heads and six arms, destroys the dragon palace and rids the people of a scourge by defeating the dragon king.

Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, directed by Wang Shuchen, Yan Dingxian and Xu Jingda is the first wide-screen animated feature produced in China, wining the best animation film in the third Hundred Flower Awards in 1980. The production of animation was suspended for almost 10 years during the Cultural Revolution. So Nezha's return is of far-reaching importance to China's animation as well as China's cultural circle.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao May 27, 2005)