Tang Mingdong

An epic animated fantasy anthology film intertwining six storylines from China's classic supernatural story collection "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio" by Pu Songling. The six stories center on Lanruo Temple, an ancient ruin haunted by spirits. Weaving in classic tales like "Taoist from Laoshan Mountain," "Princess Lotus," "Nie Xiaoqian," "The Painted Skin" and "The Daughter of Magistrate Lu." These stories — spanning humans, ghosts and demons — explore love, death and morality against shifting time. The film merges six distinct styles into one anthology. For example, "Taoist from Laoshan Mountain" uses felt-textured animation, while "The Painted Skin" mirrors Song dynasty painting aesthetics.

Toward the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, amid nationwide unrest, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao sought to enlist General-in-Chief He Jin’s support to check the power of the eunuchs and restore the Han Dynasty to its rightful order. Unexpectedly, Dong Zhuo seized the chaos to march his troops into the capital, plotting to dethrone the reigning emperor and install a new one.Swept up in the torrential tide of troubled times, a host of warlords emerged one after another: Yuan Shu, Lü Bu, Sun Jian, as well as Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Turmoil engulfed Luoyang, and the fate of the great Han Empire stood at a crossroads…