Drawing on a Chinese legend

The most recent hit animation to feature Yang is the 1999 blockbuster Lotus Lantern, the biggest-budget project ever produced by Shanghai Animation Film Studio, which could arguably be considered as China's answer to Disney.

Quite different from the character design of Yang in the 1990s classic, which depicts the figure-who is voiced by famous actor Jiang Wen-as a ruthless, cold-blooded and mean god, the new film reframes Yang as more of a wandering swordsman who never puts aside the pursuit of safeguarding the peace of the world.

In most of the previous movies and TV series in which the character appears, Yang, usually depicted as a villain, destroys the marriage of his younger sister, also a celestial being, to a member of the literati. As a teenager, his nephew, Chenxiang, embarks on an arduous journey to fight Yang and rescue his mother, who is imprisoned in Huashan Mountain.

"When I was conducting research, I was surprised to find that Yang did a similar thing to Chenxiang when he was young," says Zhao Ji, the director, adding that he was curious about what changed Yang, believing this pivotal discovery would lay the foundation for the new movie.