{ "id": "epyv50qwdg", "slug": "changan-2023-film", "title": "Chang'an (长安三万里) (2023 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts", "label": "Animated and short films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-features-by-country", "label": "Animated films by country and region", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-features-by-country" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "China · 2021 and later: Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021", "label": "China · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2021.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Chang'an (长安三万里, 2023) is a Light Chaser Animation film directed by Xie Junwei and Zou Jing, telling Gao Shi and Li Bai's friendship through 48 Tang poems; it grossed over 1.7 billion yuan and won the Golden Rooster Best Art Film award.", "snippet": "Chang'an (长安三万里, 2023) is a Light Chaser Animation film directed by Xie Junwei and Zou Jing, telling Gao Shi and Li Bai's friendship through 48 Tang poems; it grossed over 1.7 billion yuan and won the Golden Rooster Best Art Film award.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-features-by-country", "markdown": "# Chang'an (长安三万里) (2023 film)\n\n**Chang'an** (长安三万里, literally \"Thirty Thousand Miles from Chang'an\") is a 2023 Chinese animated historical film produced by Light Chaser Animation, directed by Xie Junwei and Zou Jing, and released in mainland China on July 8, 2023[1](https://www.ithome.com/0/706/142.htm). Set in the [Tang dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/tang-dynasty), it tells the decades-long friendship between the poets [Gao Shi](https://www.edgepedia.org/gao-shi) and [Li Bai](https://www.edgepedia.org/li-bai), framed as the aged Gao Shi's recollection to a court eunuch after the An Lushan Rebellion, when Tibetan forces attack the southwest and Chang'an itself is imperiled[1](https://www.ithome.com/0/706/142.htm). The film weaves 48 Tang poems into its narrative and became one of the defining Chinese releases of the 2023 summer season, eventually grossing over 1.7 billion yuan[2](https://www.performing-arts.gov.hk/sc/02550000000/0255000000001044.html) • [3](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1692258688169484.html).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | July 8, 2023, mainland China; 168 minutes[1](https://www.ithome.com/0/706/142.htm) • [2](https://www.performing-arts.gov.hk/sc/02550000000/0255000000001044.html) |\n| Directors | Xie Junwei and Zou Jing; produced by Light Chaser Animation as its eighth feature[1](https://www.ithome.com/0/706/142.htm) • [4](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s64af56aae4b03d11a64d4190.html) |\n| Poems | 48 Tang poems recited across the film, including Li Bai's \"Jiang Jin Jiu\" (将进酒)[2](https://www.performing-arts.gov.hk/sc/02550000000/0255000000001044.html) • [5](https://news.cnr.cn/bwdj/20230810/t20230810_526373654.shtml) |\n| Box office | Over 1.7 billion yuan by August 17, 2023 (41 days in release); second-highest-grossing Chinese animated film at the time[3](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1692258688169484.html) • [5](https://news.cnr.cn/bwdj/20230810/t20230810_526373654.shtml) |\n| Ratings | Douban 8.3, Maoyan 9.4, IMDb 7.5[3](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1692258688169484.html) • [6](https://www.cnfilmrank.com/zh/movies/1368) |\n| Awards | Golden Rooster Best Art Film (36th), Hundred Flowers Outstanding Film (37th), Huabiao Outstanding Feature Film (20th)[6](https://www.cnfilmrank.com/zh/movies/1368) |\n| Production time | About three years from conception to completion; the \"Jiang Jin Jiu\" sequence alone took nearly two years[7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230721/b24d729a1b9245f1965aca0d595cfbe7/c.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and structure\n\nThe film opens years after the [An Lushan Rebellion](https://www.edgepedia.org/an-lushan-rebellion). Tibetan armies press into the southwest, and Gao Shi, the Tang military commissioner defending a lone city, is questioned by the supervising eunuch Cheng about his role in Li Bai's downfall. His answer unfolds as a memoir reaching back to his youth, when the orphaned Gao Shi set out for Chang'an to seek office and met the brilliant, carefree Li Bai on the road[6](https://www.cnfilmrank.com/zh/movies/1368). Through their alternating fortunes the film presents a gallery of Tang figures, including [Du Fu](https://www.edgepedia.org/du-fu), Wang Wei, Li Guinian, Zhang Xu, and [Wu Daozi](https://www.edgepedia.org/wu-daozi), and traces the dynasty's arc from the Kaiyuan flourishing through the rebellion's aftermath[6](https://www.cnfilmrank.com/zh/movies/1368) • [4](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s64af56aae4b03d11a64d4190.html).\n\nThe choice of Gao Shi as narrator was deliberate. Director Xie Junwei explained that Li Bai, as a genius, is hard for audiences to identify with, while Gao Shi, a late bloomer who struggled until fifty, offers an ordinary viewer's vantage point[5](https://news.cnr.cn/bwdj/20230810/t20230810_526373654.shtml). Historically, Gao Shi also achieved the highest official career of the Tang poets, and the *Old Book of Tang* records the judgment that among poets since the Tang began, only Gao Shi attained such rank[8](https://content.mtime.com/article/229107656).\n\n## The title and the poems\n\nThe directors give the title two meanings. First, the phrase echoes lines such as Ming poet [Chen Zilong](https://www.edgepedia.org/chen-zilong)'s \"梦到长安三万里\" (\"in dream, thirty thousand li to Chang'an\"), matching the film's intended vast, weighty texture. Second, and thematically, Chang'an stands for the ideal place in the poets' hearts, and the thirty thousand li for the distance between them and that ideal[4](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s64af56aae4b03d11a64d4190.html) • [5](https://news.cnr.cn/bwdj/20230810/t20230810_526373654.shtml).\n\nThe 48 poems were chosen primarily for familiarity. Director Zou Jing said the aim was to awaken memories of verses learned in childhood and to let viewers feel the circumstances in which each poem was written[5](https://news.cnr.cn/bwdj/20230810/t20230810_526373654.shtml). Integration ran in both directions: some scenes were built so a specific poem, such as \"Jiang Jin Jiu,\" could arise naturally, while others, like the scene outside [Meng Haoran](https://www.edgepedia.org/meng-haoran)'s home, were written first and then matched to \"[Spring Dawn](https://www.edgepedia.org/spring-dawn)\" (春晓)[9](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0726/c419388-40043591.html). The \"Jiang Jin Jiu\" sequence, in which spilled wine becomes water and Li Bai rides a crane across the [Milky Way](https://www.edgepedia.org/milky-way), uses a deliberately surreal treatment to express the poem's mixture of frustration and ambition, and its production spanned nearly two years of the three-year project[7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230721/b24d729a1b9245f1965aca0d595cfbe7/c.html) • [10](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1688873228168163.html).\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was conceived beginning in February 2020, with a first script draft completed that December, storyboard work from May 2021, and final completion in June 2023 by a team of more than 300 people[4](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s64af56aae4b03d11a64d4190.html). Producer Song Yiyi described the guiding keywords as Tang style, poetry, grandeur, and rigor[7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230721/b24d729a1b9245f1965aca0d595cfbe7/c.html).\n\n**Historical grounding.** The production engaged experts from the Chinese Academy of History and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Literature as consultants, consulted more than 100 specialist books, and conducted field trips to Xi'an, the ancient Songpan city, and Tongguan to absorb the settings' geography[5](https://news.cnr.cn/bwdj/20230810/t20230810_526373654.shtml) • [7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230721/b24d729a1b9245f1965aca0d595cfbe7/c.html). Character design drew on Tang tomb figurines in the Shaanxi History Museum, giving figures slightly elongated upper bodies and a head-to-body ratio near five-to-five to convey the Tang martial bearing[7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230721/b24d729a1b9245f1965aca0d595cfbe7/c.html). Gao Shi appears in roughly 25 character versions across his life from age eight to his sixties, and Li Bai in about 15[7](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230721/b24d729a1b9245f1965aca0d595cfbe7/c.html) • [11](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_26480797).\n\nThe filmmakers describe the plot as combining fact and reasoned imagination. Where the historical record is blank, they extrapolated from documented details; for example, since history records Li Bai and Gao Shi meeting only after forty, the film's youthful meeting is a conjecture built from Du Fu's poem describing the three poets sharing a quilt on autumn travels and from overlapping itineraries in their early poems[4](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s64af56aae4b03d11a64d4190.html).\n\n## Reception and box office\n\nThe film opened strongly, breaking 600 million yuan within nine days and ranking eighth among Chinese animated films at that point[1](https://www.ithome.com/0/706/142.htm). It passed 1.6 billion yuan by August 10, becoming the second-highest-grossing Chinese animated film, and exceeded 1.7 billion yuan by August 17, its 41st day, with a Douban score of 8.3, the highest of the 2023 summer season[5](https://news.cnr.cn/bwdj/20230810/t20230810_526373654.shtml) • [3](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1692258688169484.html). Its final recorded global gross is $250,318,788, essentially all from mainland China[6](https://www.cnfilmrank.com/zh/movies/1368).\n\nAudience satisfaction surveys placed it first among films surveyed since May 2023, with professional critics scoring it 85.7 and general audiences 85.0; it was the only film since 2021 in which professional viewers rated it above general audiences[12](https://www.peopleweekly.cn/html/2023/rmrm_0712/176414.html). Theatrical scenes of schoolchildren reciting Tang poems along with the film became a widely reported phenomenon, and the release was credited with sparking a \"Tang poetry fever\"[13](https://news.inewsweek.cn/wh/2023-07-24/19256.shtml) • [5](https://news.cnr.cn/bwdj/20230810/t20230810_526373654.shtml). Some critics dissented, with the most common negative Douban reviews calling the film a \"running account,\" a flat chronological recital, given the difficulty of covering each poet's life and each poem's context in 168 minutes[14](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9760225.html).\n\n## Historical controversy\n\nOn August 16, 2023, the Luoyang Sui-Tang History Society published a statement acknowledging the film's value while arguing that some plot descriptions contradict real history and could mislead viewers, especially young ones. Through a law firm it demanded that the producers, directors, and screenwriters issue a correction and apology[3](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1692258688169484.html). The episode raised a broader question, discussed in the same commentary, about the different standpoints of artistic creation and professional historical research[3](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1692258688169484.html).\n\n## Place in Light Chaser's catalog and cultural reach\n\nChang'an is the first entry in Light Chaser Animation's \"New Culture\" series, which takes revered historical figures and classic works as its subjects, following the studio's \"New Legend\" (White Snake) and \"New Gods\" series[4](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s64af56aae4b03d11a64d4190.html) • [15](https://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2023-07/21/c_1129760923.htm). It was also the studio's tenth-anniversary commemorative work and surpassed its previous box-office record holder, *White Snake 2: Green Snake Tribulation* (580 million yuan), within eleven days of release[16](https://www.chinafilmnews.cn/UploadFiles/file/20230719/202307190307121780.pdf) • [2](https://www.performing-arts.gov.hk/sc/02550000000/0255000000001044.html).\n\nThe film's cultural footprint extended beyond cinemas. Animated Li Bai appeared through AR at the 2024 CCTV Spring Festival Gala's Xi'an sub-venue, and cities including Xi'an and Luoyang ran poetry-themed cultural tourism programs during the following Spring Festival[11](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_26480797). Overseas, the film circulated mainly through international festival screenings and art-house release in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with English subtitles by a noted Australian translator; in a Communication University of China competitiveness study it ranked fourth among 2023 Chinese films for overseas cultural competitiveness[6](https://www.cnfilmrank.com/zh/movies/1368).\n\n## References\n\n1. [《长安三万里》票房破 6 亿元，位居国产动画电影史第 8 位, IT之家](https://www.ithome.com/0/706/142.htm)\n2. [长安三万里, 香港演艺资料库](https://www.performing-arts.gov.hk/sc/02550000000/0255000000001044.html)\n3. [被要求纠错道歉，\"长安\"能不能距史实三万里？, 新京报](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1692258688169484.html)\n4. [《长安三万里》导演解密：《将进酒》场景制作近两年，48首唐诗唤起观众血脉中的感受, 北京日报客户端](https://xinwen.bjd.com.cn/content/s64af56aae4b03d11a64d4190.html)\n5. [对话《长安三万里》主创团队：希望能埋下一颗文化的种子, 央广网](https://news.cnr.cn/bwdj/20230810/t20230810_526373654.shtml)\n6. [长安三万里, 中国电影海外传播数据库](https://www.cnfilmrank.com/zh/movies/1368)\n7. [在壮美唐风中展现\"诗意中国\"！专访《长安三万里》创作团队, 新华社](https://www.xinhuanet.com/ent/20230721/b24d729a1b9245f1965aca0d595cfbe7/c.html)\n8. [专访《长安三万里》导演+制片, 时光网](https://content.mtime.com/article/229107656)\n9. [动画电影《长安三万里》圆桌对话, 中国作家网](https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0726/c419388-40043591.html)\n10. [《长安三万里》导演：想用168分钟透彻描述有血有肉的大唐诗人, 新京报](https://m.bjnews.com.cn/detail/1688873228168163.html)\n11. [《长安三万里》制片人宋依依：探索传统文化的动画工业表达, 澎湃新闻](https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_26480797)\n12. [《长安三万里》壮美、《八角笼中》真诚, 人民周刊网](https://www.peopleweekly.cn/html/2023/rmrm_0712/176414.html)\n13. [《长安三万里》，国产动画电影最佳？, 中国新闻周刊](https://news.inewsweek.cn/wh/2023-07-24/19256.shtml)\n14. [《长安三万里》：追光动画的\"浪漫主义\"与电影市场的\"现实主义\", 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/9760225.html)\n15. [独家专访《长安三万里》主创, 新华每日电讯](https://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2023-07/21/c_1129760923.htm)\n16. [中国电影报特别策划 (2023-07-19)](https://www.chinafilmnews.cn/UploadFiles/file/20230719/202307190307121780.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Animated and short films › Animated films by country and region*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/changan-2023-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/changan-2023-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Chang'an (长安三万里) (2023 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/changan-2023-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Chang'an (长安三万里) (2023 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/changan-2023-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/changan-2023-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/changan-2023-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Chang'an (长安三万里) (2023 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/changan-2023-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Chang'an is a Light Chaser Animation film directed by Xie Junwei and Zou Jing, telling Gao Shi and Li Bai's friendship through 48 Tang poems; it grossed over 1.7 billion yuan and won the Golden Rooster Best Art Film award." }