Promotional material for Raya and the Last Dragon Photo: Courtesy of Maoyan

Disney finally released its first Southeast Asian princess fantasy, Raya and the Last Dragon, in select markets including the Chinese mainland, the world's largest film market, on Friday as well as on its streaming channel Disney+. 

Just like the House of Mouse's other great princesses, Raya doesn't let audiences down with her personal growth and ambitious determination to save the world. 

Setting in a fantasy land called Kumandra, where five human tribes and dragons used to live happily until an invasion by monsters call the Drunun, the movie is mainly about the reunification of a society and a young woman who learns to trust again in the wake of betrayal. 

Does it sound like the real world? What the Drunun, who turn people to stone with a touch, do to Kumandra is strikingly similar to what COVID-19 has done to the real world: Causing nations to isolate themselves from one another and leading hatred and distrust to take root. The only difference is that in the real world people are still dying from  COVID-19, while the people in Kumandra are finally restored through trust and cooperation. 

At a time when the world still suffers from the pandemic, it seems Disney hopes to send out the message about the importance of trust. 

Living in China, where everything is almost back to normal, this message represents one of the most important experiences that China has been willing to share with the world when it comes to defeating the deadly virus. 

Here in China, we unified as one to adhere to strict anti-virus measures, follow safety rules and, most importantly, trust each other, such as our brave medical staff, experts, our vaccines and, of course, science. 

One year ago, when China was going through its most difficult time, it was still willing to share important personal protection equipment and information to help tackle the virus with the rest of the world in the hope of buying some time for everyone. 

However, some Western politicians and media were so obsessed with playing "blame-China" games, trying to stigmatize China instead of making full use of their time to prepare, which led to a rise in distrust and even hate crimes against Asians around the world. 

The Asian actors in the movie, Kelly Marie Tran, who voices Raya; Awkwafina, the titular last dragon; and Daniel Dae Kim as Raya's father, have not only had given great performances in the film, but also spoken up in the real world against racism toward Asian-Americans and called for action.

Awkwafina said she was "saddened, disturbed and devastated at the recent string of attacks against the Asian-American community, and against our elders," in an Instagram post.

"Roughly 3,000 incidents later, not to mention at least one murder, we've succeeded in beginning to raise awareness for the issue of violence and acts of hate against Asian-Americans," Kim said in a video posted on his Instagram page.

In the movie, the leader of the Heart tribe (Kim) fails to reunite the tribes and is turned to stone. Without trust, the tribes fall into conflict and the world falls out of ecological balance. Only by reigniting the spark of trust among these tribes, which have different cultures and habits, and in herself is Raya able to allow them to reunite as one to save their world. 

In the real world, the war against the COVID-19 pandemic has reached a critic stage: the battle of vaccines. Only by working together can every country conquer this disease and save billions of people.