Between the second half of the 1930's and the first half of the 1940s American animation came into its peak. Many of the most memorable characters emerged from this period, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Porky Pig, and the incredibly popular adaptation of Superman. Feature length animations also began during this period, most notably with Walt Disney's first films: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi.

No matter how the cartoons are considered now, the Walt Disney cartons were hugely dominance for a long time. Mickey Mouse's popularity put the animated character among the ranks of the most popular screen personalities in the world, and for a while it seemed that everything Disney touched was successful.

Popeye the Sailor, produced by Max Fleischer, one of Disney’s main competitors.

Cartoons from other countries

The Smurfs

2008 is the 50th birthday of the Smurfs, created in 1958 by cartoonist Pierre Culliford, known as "Peyo."

The Smurfs, forest dwellers who live in little white-capped mushroom homes, developed their own "Smurf" language in which nouns and verbs were interchanged.

Their debut on U.S. television was in 1984, and the series theme song is still sung by people who used to watch it.

The Mole

Krtek, or "little mole" is also an old animation, first created in the mid 1950s. But it is the most famous Czechoslovak cartoon amongst Chinese people.

Barbapapa

Barbapapa himself is basically a pear-shaped, pink shapeshifting blob-like creature who stumbles upon the human world and tries to fit in. The shapeshifting is usually accompanied by the saying "Clickety Click—Barba Trick." After a series of amusing adventures, he comes across a female of his species (more shapely, and black-colored), named Barbamama. They produce seven children, known as the Barbababies, each a different color.

The cartoon was first introduced to China in 80s, when children often repeated the lines in of the animation: the names of the family members are Barbababa, Barbamama, Barbazoo ,Barbalala, Barbalib, Barbabeau, Barbabelle, Barbabright, and Barbabravo.

By Wang Nan