The New Chinese Individual: Confronting the Divided Self inNe Zha: Birth of the Demon Child

Researchers have demonstrated how the image of the Chinese child has shifted from that of a political messenger in the socialist period to that of a consumer with rights in the reform era. Using the concept of the guai (“good”) child, this article expands on these understandings of the Chinese child by examining the tensions a divided self faces between balancing individual desires and societal expectations in the 21st century. Through a close semiotic analysis of the blockbuster Chinese animated film Ne Zha: Birth of the Demon Child (2019), we argue that the child characters Ne Zha and Ao Bing represent a new, multi-layered Chinese individual. This ideal contemporary Chinese child is an agentive critical thinker who resists traditional expectations and takes control of their future instead of blindly obeying adult authority. These characters are simultaneously individualistic and collectivist.