Animation
Chinese Donghua: Animation That Is Not Anime
Ten Chinese animated series worth your time, from a hand-drawn fight masterpiece to a hairdresser who cannot kill anyone.
Donghua means Chinese animation, and it has its own visual language. Some of it is 3D and built for weekly streaming; some of it is hand-drawn and closer to painting than to Japanese anime. The common thread is that these are Chinese stories, often adapted from web novels, with Chinese fantasy systems and Chinese humour.
The range is wider than overseas viewers expect. The King's Avatar is a sports story about esports. Link Click is a contemporary thriller about photographs and time travel. Scissor Seven is a comedy about a hairdresser who is bad at being an assassin. Fog Hill of Five Elements is a short, stunning martial arts showcase.
Every guide follows the same rules as our live-action pages: original English writing, a clear audience label, three reasons to watch, one cultural detail and official licensed viewing links only.
Donghua
The King's Avatar
A retired pro rebuilds a career in an MMO. Strategy, teamwork and very good fight choreography.
Donghua
Mo Dao Zu Shi
The animated version of the story behind The Untamed, with sharper horror and stranger magic.
Donghua
Heaven Official's Blessing
A disgraced god returns to heaven and meets a ghost king who has been waiting for him.
Donghua
Link Click
Two men dive into photographs to relive the past. Every fix creates a worse problem.
Donghua
Scissor Seven
A broke hairdresser takes assassination jobs and fails upward. Fast, silly and surprisingly sweet.
Donghua
A Record of a Mortal's Journey
A village boy with no talent survives a brutal cultivation world through caution, planning and a very strange bottle.
Donghua
Fog Hill of Five Elements
A short, hand-drawn martial arts animation with some of the best action in the medium.
Donghua
Soul Land
Spirit beasts, soul rings and a boy who refuses to stay powerless. The gateway 3D cultivation show.
Donghua
Battle Through the Heavens
A genius loses his power, meets a mysterious teacher and starts climbing again.
Donghua
Perfect World
A gifted child from a small village enters a world of clans, beasts and immortal rivals.
Donghua
The Daily Life of the Immortal King
A high schooler who could destroy the world just wants a quiet life.
Donghua versus anime
The two industries influence each other, but the production models differ. Chinese animation is often funded by streaming platforms and released in short seasons or long weekly runs, and the source material is usually a Chinese web novel rather than a manga. If you are coming from anime, start with Link Click or Scissor Seven; they are the easiest transitions.