This paper discusses the specifics of modern animation and the concept of animation sign in the aspect of the discourse theory and the semiotics’s standings. We analyze the processes of coding and signification of an animation sign on the example of a Chinese animation. Also, we attempt to decode and describe the author’s meanings laid down by the authors of an animation product in one or another animation sign. The main method of studying animation material is semiotics-oriented analysis, which consists in differentiating an animation sign into its components, describing their meanings, and studying their interaction. The articcle purpose is to reveal the essence of the animation sign and its functioning in the context of modern Chinese animation. The animation sign interpreted as a product of a second-semiotic system, the formation of which based on the multimodal interaction of the codes of the first-semiotic system. The author substantiates the idea that the meaning encoded in an animated sign has a value character for a certain linguaculture.