An (Un)Helpful Guide to Chinese Donghua

A. What is donghua?

In China, the term 动画 (donghua) comes from 动 (dong: moving) + 画 (hua: picture/drawing), so donghua literally means moving picture a.k.a animation. For Chinese people, 动画 (donghua) refers to all animation regardless of origin. Just like how in Japan, anime is just a shortened word for animation and Japanese people call all animation as anime. In China, they have another term when they categorize donghua according to their origin. For domestically produce donghua, they call it 国漫 (guoman). For Japanese anime, they call it 日漫 (riman). There is also the term 动漫 (dongman). Dongman is from donghua (animation) + manhua (comic). This is the umbrella term for animation + comic in China, just like animanga for anime + manga.

However, internationally, people classify animation based on its origin. For example, anime is specific to animation produced in Japan, donghua is specific to animation produced in China, and aeni is specific to animation produced in South Korea. Therefore, when people outside of China talk about donghua, they usually mean Chinese animation.

B. What is the characteristic of donghua?

Actually donghua is really varied since they might target different audience, but I think what separates donghua from the rest is that there is a lot of 3D animation for donghua while animation from other country are predominantly in 2D. The most famous donghua in China are usually 3D, although, of course, there’s also 2D donghua that are really popular. There are also some donghua that use both 2D and 3D or are hybrid.

Prominent donghua animation studio usually has their own artstyle that can be recognize by people. One artstyle of donghua that I think “very Chinese” is “ink-painting aesthetic”, which is inspired by traditional Chinese painting. You can watch video below as example of ink-painting style in donghua The Swords / Swords of Coming:

Example of ink-painting style in donghua The Demon Hunter

Example of ink-painting style in donghua Fog Hill of Five Elements

According to Dengta (Lighthouse), more than 40% donghua are ancient style fantasy. China is rich with history, philosophies, myth and legends so a lot of donghua story are based on Chinese lore. Aside from that, most donghua are adapted from webnovel rather than manhua. Of course there’s a lot of donghua adapted from manhua too like The Ravages of Time, The Outcast, The Chosen One & Rakshasa Street, but webnovel adaptation dominate more. Chinese webnovel usually incredibly long. Mostly in 3 – 4 million word count, spanning thousands chapters. The longest Chinese webnovel that I ever read is Unsheated (adapted to donghua The Swords / Sword of Coming), it’s > 12 million words. This make a lot of donghua has hundreds of episodes and some donghua has planning that spans 10 years or more. For example Soul Land franchise (until 2035), Renegade Immortal (until 2030), The Swords (until 2036), Slay The Gods (until 2034), and Lord of Mysteries (until 2035). Since the source story are incredibly long, it’s fairly common for donghua to cut some parts and only adapting key events.

C. What type of donghua are there?

Donghua can be classified based on:

1. Type of animation: 3D donghua, 2D donghua, combination of 2D & 3D.
2. Type of broadcast: Seasonal donghua and Year-long (nianfan) donghua.
3. Source of story: IP adaptation (adapted from novel, manhua, etc) and original screenplay. Dengta (Lighthouse), a Chinese data analysis company, reported in 2025 that 90% of donghua are IP adaptation.
4. Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Ancient Style, Urban, Slice of Life, Science Fiction, Thriller, etc. There’s also some genre which are quite unique to China, such as Wuxia (martial arts) and Xianxia (Immortal Heroes). Wuxia usually tell the story of Chinese martial arts and adventure in Jiang Hu (martial art world) while Xianxia is the type of fantasy that usually feature immortal and cultivation.

D. What are some of most famous donghua?

Sometimes I think there’s a gap between what donghua that people talk about in international social media and the one that are popular in China. There were several times I saw viral clip for a donghua that not really popular in China. Some donghua that famous in China and also talked about quite many times in international social media are Ne Zha, The Legend of Luo Xiaohei, The Founder of Diabolism / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation and Scissor Seven.

For complete donghua that has finished broadcast, the most famous one in China is Soul Land. This donghua has over 66 million followers on the Tencent Video app. Despite Soul Land finished airing in 2023, it still ranks in the Top 10 Most Viewed Animations in 2025 (data by Yunhe). The latest report by media stated that it has crossed 52 billion views. Soul Land first airing in 2018 when the 3D animation technology in China hasn’t really smooth yet, so the earlier episodes are inferior in visual aspects compare to its latest episodes and new donghua.

For donghua that are still airing, year-long donghua like Renegade Immortal, Fights Break Sphere, Perfect World, Soul Land II, A Record of Mortal’s Journey to Immortality, Swallowed Star, and Throne of Seal are popular. For seasonal donghua, The Swords / Sword of Coming, The Demon Hunter, Ling Cage, The Degenerate Drawing Jiang Hu, etc are popular.

E. How to know if a donghua is popular in China or not?

In China, donghua are either airing on TV or in online platform. This post will only talk about donghua in online platform because the one airing on TV usually are targeted for children and for education. There are 4 main platform for donghua in China.

1. Tencent Video

Based on the Yunhe report, 16 of the Top 20 most viewed donghua in Q1 2025 are from Tencent Video. Just like Douyin in China that has TikTok as its international version, Tencent Video has WeTV as its international version. Some prominent donghua on Tencent Video, e.g., Renegade Immortal, Fights Break Sphere, Perfect World, Soul Land, Swallowed Star, Throne of Seal, The Founder of Diabolism / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Slay The Gods, The Swords / Sword of Coming, The Degenerate Drawing Jiang Hu, etc.

2. Bilibili

The 2nd biggest platform for donghua is Bilibili, also known internationally in some countries as Bstation. Some prominent donghua on Bilibili include A Record of Mortal’s Journey to Immortality, Tale of Herding Gods, Heaven’s Official Blessing, Ling Cage, Link Click, Fog Hill of Five Elements, Rakshasa Street, etc.

3. Youku

Youku is also available internationally. Some prominent donghua on Youku, e.g., The Demon Hunter, Big Brother / My Senior Brother is Too Steady, Eclipse of Illusion, and Beyond Time’s Gaze.

4. iQiyi

iQiyi is also available internationally. Some prominent donghua on iQiyi include How Dare You, Love Between Fairy and Devil, The Land of Miracles, The Great Ruler, etc.

Each of those platform has their own parameter for success. Tencent Video, Youku and iQiyi has their own heat index and their own ranking. While Bilibili using total views.

Therefore, to see the popularity across platform, people in China usually use third-party data. Those data come from data analysis company such as Yunhe and Dengta. Although none of the third-party data can be seen as authoritative. Example of donghua chart across platform:

F. Where can I watch donghua legally for free?

Thankfully, Chinese platforms are usually generous with free content. All 4 of those platform above has their own Youtube channel where you can watch a lot of donghua for free. Several other IP holder also provide donghua for free. You just need to check if the video is available in your region. If it isn’t, you might need VPN to watch it.

Generally, you need paid membership to access all donghua (except for Ani-Mi Asia, Yuewen Animation & SenTV Animation), but you can watch a lot of donghua for free. Although sometimes there’s a catch, for example some muted music and not-so-good subtitle. But overall it’s still very beneficial.

1. Tencent Animation

2. Made By Bilibili

3. Youku Animation

4. Ani-Mi Asia

5. iQiyi Animation

6. Yuewen Animation

7. SENTV Animation

G. What are some beginner-friendly donghua?

If you like action & fantasy, there are 3 donghua that I can recommend for you:

If you prefer it to be in modern / urban setting, then I recommend Slay The Gods. If you want to try watching the Chinese ancient style, then I recommend you to watch The Demon Hunter. If you want a Chinese ancient style but with a bit more horror element in it, then I recommend you to watch Tale of Herding Gods.

If you don’t like action & prefer something relaxing like slice of life, then you can try to watch Deviant / Fei Ren Zai / Non-Human.

If you want something relaxing and funny while still have exciting action scenes, then I recommend you to watch Scissor Seven.

If you want to watch something in romance genre, with palace scheming and comedy, then I recommend you to watch How Dare You.

If you want to watch science fiction then you can watch Swallowed Star or Ling Cage.

These are some (un)helpul info regarding donghua for beginner.