{ "id": "epc46mhr7d", "slug": "on-happiness-road", "title": "On Happiness Road (幸福路上)", "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.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020: Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.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.t2001", "label": "China · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t2001.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.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" } ] } ], "excerpt": "On Happiness Road (幸福路上) is a 2017 Taiwanese 2D hand-drawn animated feature by director Sung Hsin-yin, following Lin Shu-chi from 1970s childhood to adulthood; Golden Horse Best Animated Feature and Tokyo Anime Award Grand Prize winner.", "snippet": "On Happiness Road (幸福路上) is a 2017 Taiwanese 2D hand-drawn animated feature by director Sung Hsin-yin, following Lin Shu-chi from 1970s childhood to adulthood; Golden Horse Best Animated Feature and Tokyo Anime Award Grand Prize winner.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.animated-shorts.animated-features-by-country", "markdown": "# On Happiness Road (幸福路上)\n\n**On Happiness Road** (幸福路上) is a 2017 Taiwanese 2D hand-drawn animated feature film directed and written by Sung Hsin-yin (宋欣穎), which follows a Taiwanese woman, [Lin Shu](https://www.edgepedia.org/lin-shu)-chi (林淑琪), from her 1970s childhood on a street called Happiness Road to her adult return from the United States, using her life to trace roughly four decades of Taiwan's social and political change.[1](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/Film/Filmcontent/?ContentUrl=77469) • [2](https://thesis.lib.nccu.edu.tw/detail/c7502c2b36010604f82465b1a0c6073d/?seq=1) It won the Golden Horse Award for Best Animated Feature in 2018 and has been described as a milestone in Taiwanese animated film.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7543904/awards/) • [4](https://www.taiwangazette.org/news/2018/12/20/the-personal-journeys-of-on-happiness-road)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Original title / year | 幸福路上, Taiwan, 2017; released in Taiwanese theaters January 5, 2018[1](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/Film/Filmcontent/?ContentUrl=77469) |\n| Format | 2D hand-drawn animation, color, 111 minutes[1](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/Film/Filmcontent/?ContentUrl=77469) |\n| Director / writer | Sung Hsin-yin (宋欣穎), her first animated feature[1](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/Film/Filmcontent/?ContentUrl=77469) • [5](https://ablazeimage.com/on-happiness-road-info/) |\n| Protagonist | Lin Shu-chi, born 1975, the day Chiang Kai-shek died; voiced by Gwei Lun-mei (桂綸鎂)[6](https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2148307/happiness-road-film-review-heart-warming-animation-charts-taiwans) |\n| Story span | From the 1970s to the present day, covering martial law era schooling, the 1987 lifting of martial law, democratization, and questions of identity[7](https://lovehkfilm.com/panasia/on_happiness_road.html) • [2](https://thesis.lib.nccu.edu.tw/detail/c7502c2b36010604f82465b1a0c6073d/?seq=1) |\n| Major awards | Golden Horse Best Animated Feature (2018); Tokyo Anime Award Festival Grand Prize; Taipei Film Festival Grand Prize, Best Animation, and Audience Choice Award[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7543904/awards/) • [5](https://ablazeimage.com/on-happiness-road-info/) |\n| Languages | Taiwanese, Mandarin, and English[8](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/01/04/2003685144) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nChi, a Taiwanese woman in her thirties living in New York with an American husband, returns to her family home on Happiness Road after her beloved grandmother dies. Back in the old neighborhood, she pieces together memories from childhood, school, and work, and questions who she is and where her life should go.[9](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1590) • [6](https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2148307/happiness-road-film-review-heart-warming-animation-charts-taiwans)\n\nThe film's structure moves between the present and flashbacks, sometimes with flights of fancy, juxtaposing Chi's childhood dreams with her adult reality.[7](https://lovehkfilm.com/panasia/on_happiness_road.html) As a girl she grew up speaking Taiwanese Hoklo, which her teacher forbade at school, and she was born in 1975, the day President Chiang Kai-shek died, initially regarding him as a hero. She grows disillusioned after her cousin Wen is tortured for reading banned books, and as a college student she joins protests demanding democratic freedom over her parents' objections.[6](https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2148307/happiness-road-film-review-heart-warming-animation-charts-taiwans) • [7](https://lovehkfilm.com/panasia/on_happiness_road.html) • [10](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/on-happiness-road-busan-review/5122845.article) The central question is what happiness means: Chi has achieved the American dream, yet finds it does not guarantee contentment.[10](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/on-happiness-road-busan-review/5122845.article)\n\n## Origins and production\n\n**A homework assignment became a film.** While studying film directing and screenwriting at [Columbia College Chicago](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-college-chicago), Sung Hsin-yin was urged by her teacher to draw material from her own life. She recalled the street in Taiwan where she grew up, named Happiness Road, and the contrast between its cheery name and the reality of the neighborhood, which ended in a large, dirty trench that made headlines in 1997 when kidnappers dumped the body of a Taiwanese actress's 16-year-old daughter in it. \"On Happiness Road\" became the title of her assignment and eventually the film.[11](https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2148245/happiness-road-taiwanese-animation-tells-cruel-and-dark-story)\n\nThe project began as a short. A 12-minute hand-drawn short version of *On Happiness Road* won animation and short film awards at the Taipei and [Kaohsiung](https://www.edgepedia.org/kaohsiung) film festivals in 2013, including the Best Animation Award at the 2013 Taipei Film Festival. The feature-length plan then won the million-NTD first prize at Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, which started the feature's development.[12](https://edumovie-tfai.org.tw/article/content/504) • [13](https://www.dohafilm.com/en/contents/8eb8eb39-150a-45e6-be25-3dab003a638d) Sung spent years developing her student-era script into the feature, which took four years to complete.[9](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1590)\n\nSung was born in Taipei, studied film theory at [Kyoto University](https://www.edgepedia.org/kyoto-university), and graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a master's degree in film; before filmmaking she worked as a journalist, writer, karaoke store clerk in Kyoto, and photographer.[5](https://ablazeimage.com/on-happiness-road-info/) The feature was produced by Happiness Road Productions (幸福路映畫社) with Ifilm (傳影互動) and the Kaohsiung Film Fund, produced by Kao Huai-ju (高懷茹) and executive produced by Sylvia Feng (馮賢賢).[1](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/Film/Filmcontent/?ContentUrl=77469) • [14](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/on-happiness-road/)\n\n## Historical and social themes\n\nThe film condenses four decades of Taiwanese politics, economics, popular culture, and everyday life into its running time, and reviewers note that viewers who grew up in Taiwan will catch more of its details.[8](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/01/04/2003685144) A 2019 master's thesis at [National Chengchi University](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-chengchi-university) analyzed the film through textual analysis and film semiology, examining themes including education under martial law, democratization after martial law was lifted, post-Cold War influences on Taiwan, gender, class, and ethnicity, and arguing that the film represents the collective memory of Taiwanese audiences through hand-drawn animation.[2](https://thesis.lib.nccu.edu.tw/detail/c7502c2b36010604f82465b1a0c6073d/?seq=1)\n\n**Nostalgia as a vehicle for dark history.** The South China Morning Post described the film as telling a \"cruel and dark\" story of Taiwan's contemporary history despite its enchanting style, documenting the society's changes and questioning its values.[11](https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2148245/happiness-road-taiwanese-animation-tells-cruel-and-dark-story) Harsher happenings such as student demonstrations and political torture are also brought up, yet all are filtered through Chi's nostalgic recollections of her childhood.[6](https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2148307/happiness-road-film-review-heart-warming-animation-charts-taiwans) A panel of Taiwanese writers and academics in *The Reporter* called the film a milestone in Taiwanese animation, noting that it depicts historical events through a personal narrative and touches on themes close to different generations, in an era when the Hoklo language was prohibited and [Chiang Kai-shek](https://www.edgepedia.org/chiang-kai-shek)'s cult of personality was alive.[4](https://www.taiwangazette.org/news/2018/12/20/the-personal-journeys-of-on-happiness-road)\n\n## Reception and awards\n\nThe film premiered in the Wide Angle section of the 22nd Busan International Film Festival in 2017 and closed the 54th Golden Horse Film Festival.[5](https://ablazeimage.com/on-happiness-road-info/) At the 55th Golden Horse Awards in 2018 it won Best Animated Feature and was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7543904/awards/) It also won the Grand Prize in the Feature Animation Competition at the 17th Tokyo Anime Award Festival, the Grand Prize, Best Animation, and Audience Choice Award at the 20th Taipei Film Festival, the Best Animated Feature Award at the Seoul International Animation Film Festival, the AniMovie Award at the Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film, and a jury special mention at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, among many festival selections including Annecy and the New York Asian Film Festival.[5](https://ablazeimage.com/on-happiness-road-info/) • [1](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/Film/Filmcontent/?ContentUrl=77469) It was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards.[15](https://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/films/on-happiness-road)\n\nCritics responded warmly. James Marsh of the [South China Morning Post](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-china-morning-post) gave it 3.5 of 5 stars, calling it a tender yet powerful debut that is both heart-warming and educational.[6](https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2148307/happiness-road-film-review-heart-warming-animation-charts-taiwans) [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter)'s review called it an ambitious, affecting mix of history and nostalgia that avoids cheap sentimentality, and Screen Daily judged its universal themes would make it accessible to international audiences despite the brisk storytelling.[5](https://ablazeimage.com/on-happiness-road-info/) • [10](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/on-happiness-road-busan-review/5122845.article) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 100% Tomatometer from six reviews.[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_happiness_road) Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times wrote that it marks the introduction of a promising new female voice in animation.[14](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/on-happiness-road/)\n\n## Significance for Taiwanese animation\n\nThe Hollywood Reporter called the film a worthy heir to Taiwan's once-thriving and later dormant animation film industry.[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_happiness_road) Panelists discussing the film in *The Reporter* observed that Taiwan's animation industry had long done subcontractor work for Japanese and American companies, and that a fully local, culturally rooted feature of this kind faced difficulty securing resources amid pressure on Taiwanese cultural industries.[4](https://www.taiwangazette.org/news/2018/12/20/the-personal-journeys-of-on-happiness-road) Taiwan's Cultural Content Industries Survey Report lists *On Happiness Road* among the notable Taiwanese animated features of its period, with a 2018 theatrical release alongside *AKA's Adventure: The Secret of Light*.[17](https://en.taicca.tw/uploads/userfiles/download/2023_TCC_Industries_Survey_Report/2022-2023%20Key%20Data%20of%20Animation%20Industry.pdf)\n\n## References\n\n1. [幸福路上 On Happiness Road, 台灣電影網 Taiwan Cinema](https://taiwancinema.bamid.gov.tw/Film/Filmcontent/?ContentUrl=77469)\n2. [衣桂瑜 (2019). 台灣現代化印記和集體記憶：以台灣動畫電影《幸福路上》為例. National Chengchi University master's thesis](https://thesis.lib.nccu.edu.tw/detail/c7502c2b36010604f82465b1a0c6073d/?seq=1)\n3. [On Happiness Road (2017) – Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7543904/awards/)\n4. [The Taiwanese Anime Film Making Everyone Weepy-eyed for their Childhoods, The Taiwan Gazette (translation of The Reporter 報導者)](https://www.taiwangazette.org/news/2018/12/20/the-personal-journeys-of-on-happiness-road)\n5. [On Happiness Road（幸福路上）, ABLAZE IMAGE / 光在影像](https://ablazeimage.com/on-happiness-road-info/)\n6. [James Marsh (2018). Review: On Happiness Road film review, South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2148307/happiness-road-film-review-heart-warming-animation-charts-taiwans)\n7. [On Happiness Road (幸福路上) (2017), LoveHKFilm.com](https://lovehkfilm.com/panasia/on_happiness_road.html)\n8. [Han Cheung (2018). Movie Review: On Happiness Road, Taipei Times](https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2018/01/04/2003685144)\n9. [幸福路上 On Happiness Road, Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival](https://www.goldenhorse.org.tw/film/programme/films/detail/1590)\n10. [Jason Bechervaise (2017). 'On Happiness Road': Busan Review, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/on-happiness-road-busan-review/5122845.article)\n11. [Rachel Cheung (2018). On Happiness Road: Taiwanese animation tells 'cruel and dark' story of country's contemporary history, South China Morning Post](https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2148245/happiness-road-taiwanese-animation-tells-cruel-and-dark-story)\n12. [《幸福路上》On Happiness Road, 認識電影 (國家電影中心 edumovie)](https://edumovie-tfai.org.tw/article/content/504)\n13. [On Happiness Road, Doha Film Institute](https://www.dohafilm.com/en/contents/8eb8eb39-150a-45e6-be25-3dab003a638d)\n14. [On Happiness Road Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/on-happiness-road/)\n15. [On Happiness Road, Asia Pacific Screen Awards](https://www.asiapacificscreenawards.com/films/on-happiness-road)\n16. [On Happiness Road, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/on_happiness_road)\n17. [2022–2023 Key Data of Animation Industry, Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA)](https://en.taicca.tw/uploads/userfiles/download/2023_TCC_Industries_Survey_Report/2022-2023%20Key%20Data%20of%20Animation%20Industry.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/on-happiness-road", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/on-happiness-road.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": "\"On Happiness Road (幸福路上)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/on-happiness-road. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[On Happiness Road (幸福路上)](https://www.edgepedia.org/on-happiness-road)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/on-happiness-road](https://www.edgepedia.org/on-happiness-road). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"On Happiness Road (幸福路上)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/on-happiness-road. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "On Happiness Road is a 2017 Taiwanese 2D hand-drawn animated feature by director Sung Hsin-yin, following Lin Shu-chi from 1970s childhood to adulthood; Golden Horse Best Animated Feature and Tokyo Anime Award Grand Prize winner." }