Sanxingdui Ruins-themed cartoon aired on China Central Television

CHENGDU - A cartoon series themed on the prehistoric Sanxingdui Ruins in southwest China's Sichuan province began airing on state broadcaster China Central Television Wednesday.

The cartoon, Sanxingdui Glory Awakening, has 52 episodes. It was earlier broadcast on online video platforms and was popular among young Chinese audiences.

The cartoon was directed by Liu Xinsong, with Derek Iversen, who previously worked for DreamWorks, as its scriptwriter.

Sichuan Sanxingdui Cultural Media Co., Ltd., which invested tens of millions of yuan into the cartoon, hopes that the cartoon series can serve as a bridge for global communication and bring the Sanxingdui culture to the world.

The adventure cartoon, which features many bronze wares from the Sanxingdui Ruins, focuses on the unsolved mystery of the ruins and seeks to explore the mysterious civilization behind them.

The Sanxingdui Ruins are in Guanghan city, some 40 km from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan. They are believed to be remnants of the Shu Kingdom that disappeared under mysterious circumstances some 3,000 years ago.

Listed among China's top 10 archaeological findings of the 20th century, the Sanxingdui Ruins, which sprawl over an area of 12 square km, showcase the diverse origins of Chinese civilization.

The ruins were discovered by accident by Yan Daocheng, a farmer, when he unearthed a bright piece of jade while digging a ditch in 1929.

Two sacrificial pits filled with more than 1,000 national treasures, including gold masks, bronze ware, jade tablets, ivory and sacred trees, were discovered in 1986 when workers were excavating clay for bricks.

In 1988, the ruins were given state-level protection.