The film, first released in 1983, displays many aspects of traditional Chinese culture. The Legend of Sealed Book tells the story of how two boys fight against three fox spirits.

The look of the three fox spirits comes from Peking Opera makeup (造型). The waters and mountains are in the style of traditional Chinese ink wash paintings.

China's first ink wash animation (动画) actually came out in 1960. The film Little Tadpole (蝌蚪) Looking for Mummy has all the elements of the animals, plants and rocks drawn with ink and brush.

The animators(动画制作者) learned from the great artist Qi Baishi. The film is only about 15 minutes long, but it took lots of work. Without computers, the animators had to draw everything by hand. To save time, the clever artists stamped the tadpoles' bodies on paper with a special seal. 

In the past few years, ink wash animations have become popular in China. Now, animators are combining ink wash painting with computer technology. For example, Fog Hills of Five Elements, which came out in 2020, is in the ink wash style, just like Ma Liang and His Magical Writing Brush. It's about five elemental envoys fighting against evil.