50年代末,中國動畫力求創新,除了水墨畫風之外,積極拓寬動畫片種,萬氏兄弟之萬古蟾汲取了中國皮影藝術和民間窗花、剪紙等藝術特色,經過不斷的試驗後創造出第一批動畫片的剪紙人物,1958年誕生的《豬八戒吃西瓜》就是剪紙片始祖,翌年萬古蟾完成另一部民間傳說《漁童》,奠定了剪紙片中國動畫的基石。80年代,上海美術電影製片廠再次把剪紙動畫注入生氣,其出品《火童》和《猴子釣魚》都是剪紙動畫美術作品中的經典。

Cutout animation, a technique that integrates the folk art of paper-cutting, was developed in 1958 by Wan Guchan, one of the pioneering Wan Brothers of Chinese animation. His first film in this style, Pigsy Eats Watermelon, uses characters from Journey to the West to impart a moral tale about greed and gluttony. The following year Wan made Fisher Boy, based on a post-Opium War tale about an oppressed fisherman who catches a magical bowl. Meanwhile, four monkeys try to catch fish to no avail in Shen Zuwei's colorful and comical 1983 short Monkey Fishing. Based on a Hani folk tale, Wang Bairong's Golden Rooster-winning Fire Boy follows the adventures of a boy who risks his life to recover a sacred tinder from a demon.