by Xinhua writers Li Yue and Wang Xiaopeng
BEIJING, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- "Ne Zha 2," the Chinese animated feature that shattered global box office records, was the biggest winner at the 38th Hundred Flowers Awards, becoming the first animated film in the ceremony's history to claim the Best Picture Award.
The award was presented at the 38th edition of the ceremony in Beijing on Monday night. Audience representatives from various sectors cast their ballots at the event to select winners from a shortlist of 20 finalists.
The film, a bold reimagining of the centuries-old myth of Ne Zha, a rebellious child deity who defies fate, offers a fresh take on a classic Chinese legend.
Wang Changtian, chairman of Enlight Media, the film's major producer, accepted the trophy at the ceremony and called the win "a collective honor for Chinese animation."
"I hope Ne Zha will not stand alone, but that Chinese animated films will flourish like flowers in full bloom," he said in his acceptance speech.
Founded in 1962, the Hundred Flowers Awards are among China's major film awards and are distinctive for being determined by audience choice rather than by industry juries. To be eligible for the awards, a film must have attracted at least 1 million cumulative theatrical admissions. This year's edition of the awards was held from Aug. 7 to 10.
While the winners are ultimately decided by audience representatives voting at the ceremony, the finalists are determined in advance by a panel of cinema managers, media representatives and industry experts.
The victory of "Ne Zha 2" reflects the country's growing enthusiasm for homegrown animation in recent years, a trend that has been mirrored at the box office. In 2025, animated films generated more than 25 billion yuan (about 3.71 billion U.S. dollars) in box office revenue -- a record for China's animation sector while also amounting to roughly half of total ticket sales for the entire year.
"Ne Zha 2" had grossed over 2.26 billion U.S. dollars worldwide by April 8 this year, making it the most successful animated film in global box office history and the fourth highest-grossing film of all time across all genres.
"The strong performance of animated films in 2025 clearly signals the emergence of a 'new' form of animation," said Gui Lin, a professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Chinese animation, she noted, has moved beyond its traditional child-oriented positioning to embrace all-age storytelling and contemporary social concerns.
Recent animated films, Gui observed, often feature rebellious yet adorable characters who challenge convention while foregrounding family bonds, especially parent-child relationships, which is a new approach to family narratives that has driven their broad, cross-generational appeal.
Behind these innovative narratives lies the growing maturity of China's animation industry ecosystem. "Ne Zha 2" features more than 1,900 visual effects shots and represents the collaborative effort of nearly 140 animation studios and over 4,000 animators, a scale of production rarely seen in China's film industry.
This ecosystem is increasingly concentrated in purpose-built creative hubs. In a digital cultural and creative industrial park in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan Province, more than 6,000 digital cultural and creative enterprises have gathered, with the sector exceeding 140 billion yuan in scale.
The park has helped nurture animation hits such as the "Ne Zha" series and "All Wishes Come True," which has emerged as a box-office success this summer.
"All Wishes Come True," based on the Chinese legend of the eight Taoist immortals, has grossed over 1.48 billion yuan in theaters since it was released almost four weeks ago. The film takes a humanizing approach to its mythic subjects, portraying the immortals as ordinary, flawed individuals before they ascend to divinity.
Chinese moviegoers' enthusiasm for animation goes well beyond homegrown titles. Disney's "Zootopia 2" was a major success during its theatrical run in China, grossing more than 4 billion yuan and becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2025, trailing only "Ne Zha 2."
Meanwhile, Chinese cultural products, including films, are increasingly reaching overseas audiences in more accessible and engaging forms, said Zhang Yiwu, a professor of Chinese literature at Peking University, adding that this will help foster cross-cultural dialogue and bring new development opportunities to the global cultural industry. ■
