Calabash Brothers (1987)

Legend has it that two ogres were jailed in the Calabash Mountains, one a scorpion spirit and the other a snake spirit. One day, a pangolin happens to drill a hole on the slope and the two spirits escape from the cave and cause grave harm to the nearby residents. The pangolin hurries to an old man and says that only by growing calabashes in seven colors can they annihilate the devil spirits. So the old man spares no time in growing seven calabashes in red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue and purple. This has been noticed by the spirits via a fortune-teller mirror. After failing to destroy the calabashes, they seize the old man as well as the pangolin and take them away.

Later on, the calabashes are ripe one after another and fall off their stems to the ground, becoming seven boys in suits of different colors. In order to save the old man and the pangolin out, they go to fight against the evil spirits one by one. Each of them has his unique ability as well as disadvantage. With concerted effort and a united mind, they exploit everyone's advantage to the full and finally defeat the scorpion and the snake.

As one of the most popular animated cartoon series in China, Calabash Brothers, directed by Hu Jinqing, Ge Guiyun and Zhou Keqin, is a typical Chinese paper-cut animation, winning third class award at the Cairo International Children's Film Festival in Egypt.

(China.org.cn by Li Xiao May 27, 2005)