A promotional picture for the animated feature, Run, Tiger Run! The film, set to open on the first day of Spring Festival, features Hudun, an 11-year-old orphan, and his friends. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Animated film introduces a loveable, tiger-head hat-wearing protagonist, brimming with traditional Chinese values and characteristics, to a wider audience, Xu Fan reports.

In China, people often use the Chinese idiom hutou hunao, or "tiger's head and brain", to eulogize a child who looks robust, healthy and energetic. The influence of the tiger-revered in China as the king of all animals radiates through many aspects of Chinese people's lives, even the decorative pattern of children's headwear.

With the country approaching the Year of the Tiger, Run, Tiger Run! - a feature-length animated movie epitomizing that cultural tradition - will open on the first day of the Lunar New Year, which will fall on Tuesday, making it a fitting way to celebrate the festival.

Set during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the film centers on Hudun (an adorable nickname inserted with the Chinese character for tiger), an 11-year-old orphan who aspires to become an established biaoshi - an armed escort for wealthy travelers and their property on treacherous journeys.

Hudun manages to shake off a stereotypical bias that makes people view him as merely a troublemaker with the help of a legendary former swordsman. The unlikely duo fight off a powerful gang of bandits who are trying to steal a valuable item that the pair are charged to protect.

Hudun - who always wears his signature tiger-head hat - has already accumulated a sizable fan base before he even makes his screen debut.

According to the movie's co-directors, Zou Yi and Stanley Tsang, the first short video work featuring the character - showing a vivid imitation of a crosstalk performer - was released on short video platform Douyin, the domestic iteration of TikTok, in October 2018.