Unveiling the True Face of Chinese Animation: Voice Actors of “Nezha 2” Accuse Company of Salary Arrears

On February 25th, the voice actress of the Chinese animation film “Ne Zha 2” (“Ne Zha: The Mischievous Child and the Sea”), known as “Tuqi”, released a video alleging her experience working for Chengdu Shengyu Culture Communication Co., Ltd. (referred to as Shengyu Culture), the company responsible for dubbing the film. She claimed that after starting her job in 2021, she was forced to work without pay initially and was later dismissed just 4 months after being officially employed. She is now suing and seeking justice through the Court of Gaoxin District in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

According to reports by “Upstream News,” the individual behind the video, Xiaomeng, is 23 years old and graduated from Henan University with a major in Broadcasting and Hosting. “Tuqi” is the stage name she uses within the voice acting industry.

Xiaomeng shared that her passion for voice acting began in high school, and during her sophomore year in university, she discovered an online voice acting course offered by Shengyu Culture. In September 2021, she joined Shengyu Culture as a voice acting trainee during her junior year’s summer break, as detailed in the provided “Cooperation Agreement”.

The agreement promised to provide Xiaomeng with a practice venue, professional voice acting training, a daily subsidy for lunch and transportation, for a year starting from September 22, 2021 to September 21, 2022. However, she was required to participate in the work as per the company’s request, learning and improving her voice acting skills. A successful assessment would lead to the signing of a three-year employment contract.

Throughout her time as a voice acting trainee, Xiaomeng participated in various dubbing work arranged by Shengyu Culture for games and animations such as “Abiland: Dream Kingdom”, “Ark of Fate”, “Xiong Binglian 3: Thunder of Ten Thousand Catties”, and “King of Ten Thousand Realms”. She worked at least 8 hours a day like regular employees but without a basic salary or social security benefits.

Having worked as a voice acting trainee for over two years, Xiaomeng eventually passed the probationary assessment in December 2023 to become a voice actress, finally receiving a salary and social security benefits. However, in March 2024, after successfully completing a three-month probation period, she learned internally that there was no longer a promotion path for voice actors. This meant she might have to go back to being a voice acting trainee, earning only a few thousand yuan per month without social security benefits, losing out on the promised signing fee.

On March 25, 2024, Xiaomeng initiated a conversation with Shengyu Culture’s two bosses, in response to which she was informed that she would be dismissed for not passing the probationary period, despite her efforts and dedication to the company.

The situation described by Xiaomeng was corroborated by a voice actor-turned-sound engineer, Mr. Ren, known as Guchuan in the industry. He admitted, “This situation is prevalent in Shengyu Culture; all voice actors in our company start as trainees. I worked as a trainee for over a year before I couldn’t bear it anymore and shifted to sound engineering. The income for a trainee over a year might only amount to a few thousand yuan, without social security benefits. Over the years, I have seen dozens, if not hundreds, of talented young people who wanted to enter this field, but less than 10% end up staying.”

The domestically-produced animated film “Ne Zha 2,” released in mainland China on January 29th, has garnered massive attention due to its theme of “anti-gods and anti-America,” which has been heavily promoted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), sparking a wave of nationalist support on Chinese social media platforms. State media reports claim that as of February 27, the film’s box office earnings have surpassed 14 billion yuan, making it the top-grossing animated film globally. On February 19, an official announcement on Weibo stated that the film will continue screening until March 30.

It is evident that the success of this animated film relies heavily on Mandarin voice actors. However, it remains unknown how much voice actors like Xiaomeng received from the CCP’s nationalist-driven box office earnings, where the military, schools, and state-owned enterprises reportedly made collective efforts to boost the film’s revenue.