This article questions a longstanding definition of animation that lacks aspects of cultural diversity in part; it reexamines the socio-cultural formation of modern animation from less known regions of China and investigates Chinese animation known as donghua (动画). The goal is to demonstrate the transdisciplinary nature of donghua acquired through dynamic interactions in this heterogeneous site of production of visual culture in modern China. The author suggests a concept-based framework to more accurately describe animation in China composed of three specific dimensions of donghua: translinguality, transnationality and transmediality. To conclude, the author reveals that the study of donghua helps generate a more widely defined spectrum of the now divergent ‘cultural field’ of ‘animations’ and therefore leads to a ‘translocal imagining of animation’ appropriate for today’s increasingly mobile world.