A new original Chinese animated feature, "Realm of Terracotta," involving great dedication from hundreds of Chinese animators has emerged motivated by an ambition to expand the story universe inspired by China's famous Terracotta Warriors in order to promote Chinese culture worldwide.

"I hope this film can take the audience on a fantasy adventure, as they follow the journey of a young man's growth and enjoy a showcase of traditional Chinese culture," said Ding Liang, the director of the smash hit animated movie series "Boonie Bears." This time he served as executive producer.

The new animated film, directed by Lin Yongchang, took five years to develop, and was made and assembled by nearly 1,000 top animation talents from more than 30 different companies in Chinese animation industry. 

Chinese entertainment group Fantawild, a company behind the "Boonie Bears" franchise and several Fantawild themed resorts around China, is the leading producer, organizing the production and seeking support from various peers because of the large scale of the project.

Shang Linlin, producer of the film and vice president of Fantawild, said it was either conceived as an idea with huge potential to develop a story about terracotta army, or a challenging venture into the unknown as there was almost nothing for them to use as reference. 

Although, as she pointed out, the Terracotta Warriors is so iconic in Chinese culture, it was a pity that there was such a lack of stories behind this aspect of Chinese history. 

"We want to build a brand-new world based on them and create a new cultural franchise for Chinese culture," she said. 

Ding added that the creative team has repeatedly traveled to the Emperor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum Site Museum in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, to seek inspiration and undertake detailed on-the-spot research. The site is one of the most popular tourist destinations and regarded by many foreigners as a miracle of the ancient world. "During our visits, we started to have ideas and piece together the story and characters gradually."

"Realm of Terracotta" tells a story about a young terracotta warrior, who is quite alive as a normal human being but living in the underground environment. He teams up with a girl whom he encounters and falls in love with, to hunt down mythical creatures that attacked their subterranean city, and finally unlock the secret why this took place. 

The 111-minute film has more than 400 characters, 200 scenes, 3,270 shots and 7.7 million hours of rendering. It was constantly updated through 37 cuts during the production process. This epic and romantic production, in vivid colors, is an action-packed visual feast weaving together a lot of traditional cultural elements from China, including beautiful Chinese music, while touching on such topics as destiny, love, bravery, integrity and ecological balance. 

Director Lin said they had learned a lot about terracotta army culture and tried to replicate every detail of the cultural relics as best as they could. "But we also undertook some simplification and innovations to adapt it to animated characteristics," he explained. 

Lin said that they dedicated much into this animation in terms of creation and cost. To think out how to light up the underground world, for example, Lin said, they experimented with 30 to 40 ideas before they decided to use glowworms. And for the final battle in the end of the film, they changed and improved this scene for more than 40 times. 

"From the visual spectacles, you can see our cash is burning and my heart ached so much," another producer Li Xiaohong joked, "but the final production presented to the audience is worth everything."

And they have future ambitious plans. "This story will expand its universe," said Ding Liang, as some part of the film plot has already offered out hints of the fantasy world view. "There will not be just the underground city from the Qin Dynasty, but also underground cities from the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties with their own host terracotta people and legends."

"Realm of Terracotta," nominated for the best animated feature at the Shanghai International Film Festival held in June, will hit theaters in China on July 9. After the China debut, it will be exported to more than 20 countries and regions globally.

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