Secrets of the Heavenly Book

Yuangong, keeper of the celestial library, wants to give the heavenly book to human beings. He breaks the prohibition, and the Jade Emperor sentences him to guard the book for life. Yuangong carves what is in it onto a stone. A boy born from an egg, Dan Sheng, learns it. But three fox spirits get hold of the same knowledge; they take human form by magic and move from town to town, cheating ordinary people and fooling the officials. Dan Sheng goes after them. Wang Shuchen and Qian Yunda directed it together. Eighty-nine minutes. It is adapted from Feng Menglong's classic novel. It belongs to the best years of the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, and the drawing draws on traditional Chinese painting and shadow puppetry.