The Chinese anime Nezha 2 is changing the political ball game, posing a challenge to the US and the West that goes well beyond technology
The world was shaken by the sudden success of DeepSeek, the AI outperforming American rivals at a fraction of the cost. However, DeepSeek technological races are explainable, manageable, and somehow expected[1]. Perhaps more challenging and threatening to the core of the Western system is the success of the Chinese animated film Nezha 2, inspired by ancient traditional tales. It seemingly came out of nowhere and is still being largely underestimated.
The movie was released in China on the first day of the Chinese New Year, January 29, and in a few weeks, it grossed almost $2 billion, breaking many records. It became the highest-grossing animated film of all time, marking the first time a non-American, non-English-language film achieved this breakthrough.
The film has yet to reach theaters worldwide, where it will prove its box office mettle, but it is already a milestone. China can produce movies that cater to the souls of its people, beating Hollywood and the Western cultural industry on their home turf—animation. These are stories for children that also appeal to adults, an art that reaches the gut, bypassing any intellectual filter. The art perfected by Disney reached the kids of the whole world.
The communists, the Soviets, never achieved that. They had great masters who outperformed Hollywood’s colossal movies in the 1920s, like Eisenstein. They also had directors in the 1970s who spoke to Western literati, like Tarkovsky. Eisenstein and Tarkovsky also rode on the lasting global appeal of egalitarian socialism for adults. However, children and child-like deeper emotions were Hollywood’s cherished domain.
It is a political coup and ultimately a notch on the pistol of President Xi Jinping’s new propaganda sheriff in town, Li Shulei.
Nezha’s triumph comes from massive experience; it’s not an isolated episode. Animation is the child of the gaming industry. China maintains a global stronghold there. “Chinese game developers are … accounting for 47% of the global mobile gaming revenue.” [2] The Chinese cultural market is more closed than any other. Access to foreign video games or movies is strictly limited.
Playing Games
But this is not enough to explain the success of its video games or Nezha 2. China found a way to produce something that doesn’t breach its censorship and appeals to everyone. Is China winning the “propaganda war,” the one that ultimately helped to bring down the USSR?
It may seem so. Martin Wolf warned: “Today, not only are autocracies increasingly confident. The US is moving to their side. That is the lesson of the last two weeks.” [3] He sees in the recent speeches by US Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and the negotiations over the future of Ukraine unprecedented moves making “the US the enemy of the West.”
It fits with ex-MI6 chief Alex Younger’s argument: “We are in a new era where, by and large, international relations aren’t going to be determined by rules and multilateral institutions … They’re going to be determined by strongmen and deals… That’s [US President] Donald Trump’s mindset, certainly [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s mindset. It’s [Chinese President] Xi Jinping’s mindset.” [4]
Laws and multilateral institutions were the legacy and reservation of the Western world, a cornerstone of its soft power. The present US thinking seems: ‘They are not working for us; tearing them down and building something new is easier than refurbishing them.’
It may be true and fit the philosophy of a New York real estate mogul used to raise towers on the rubble of run-down quarters. But as an Italian living in a city with 3,000-year-old monuments, it’s hard to believe it’s always the case. It sounds like wanting to bring down the Colosseum to start a glossy Trump Tower. Will the business be valuable? Yes, the tower manager will have made money in the short term, but the overall real estate prices in Rome will have collapsed, ultimately hitting the tower.
Then, what is the total chemistry for the US when you throw in the massive Chinese inroads in games and animation? In the early 2000s, China wiped out centuries of architectural history in a few years, paving roads and raising skyscrapers like in Los Angeles or San Francisco. But its soft-power success came from mining and refurbishing its old traditions. It may also suggest this is the new battleground, and the US didn’t see it coming.
As a hard-nosed businessman, Trump may want to assess the exact value of what he’s tearing down and think about the actual impact on his portfolio of those single operations.
[1] See https://www.appiainstitute.org/?s=deepseek
[2] https://www.china-briefing.com/news/chinas-gaming-industry-trends-and-regulatory-outlook-2024/
[3] https://www.ft.com/content/b46e2e24-ca71-4269-a7ca-3344e6215ae3?accessToken=zwAGLwh20zVIkdO0bi4kynFCadOnyjNE5iFa4w.MEQCIBgvtC3kng3S6Wbq5IlX0WwxQk9U93job_WtLA8yAqo4AiAPSHJ0OpmtGomCeEyhbrXpDaRlQ23_NQKc8OPNV3nPAA&sharetype=gift&token=2fc68e28-3978-40b6-ab7a-ab348f44747e
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FocQITpJnaQ
