Hengdian World Studios: The “Chinese Hollywood”
Many cities around the world dream of recreating the “American Dream”and becoming cultural export powerhouses. The allure of Hollywood, with its global influence and glamour, has inspired numerous cities to establish themselves as major film hubs. However, compared to this distant and idealized model, Hengdian’s approach in China stands out as a more cost-effective alternative.
Over the past decade, almost every Chinese film base has aspired to become “the second Hengdian.” Despite this ambition, the reality is harsh: among the nearly 1,000 “film cities” in China, most proclaim ambitious goals, invest heavily, and imitate successful construction models, but ultimately fail and become deserted ghost towns.
So, how did Hengdian World Studios succeed? How does the model of “building a city for every film” achieve long-term success?
The Origins of Hengdian World Studios
Hengdian, a town in southern Dongyang, Zhejiang, had no inherent resource or geographic advantages. It was one of the poorest places in Zhejiang, lacking airports and train stations, and it took four hours to drive from Hangzhou to Hengdian. The town’s transformation began with Xu Wenrong, the Party branch secretary of Hengdian Brigade in 1975. Recognizing the villagers’ textile skills, Xu led the effort to start a textile factory, raising funds and securing loans. By 1980, the success of this factory gave Xu the confidence to shift the industrial focus to electronics, establishing a high-tech electromagnetic materials factory. By 1993, Hengdian had become an industrial town with an output value exceeding 1 billion yuan (approx. 140.6 million USD).
After gaining some fame, Xu traveled across the country and saw the filming location of “Journey to the West” being expanded into a tourist attraction. Inspired, he wanted to replicate this model in Hengdian. Despite skepticism from others, Xu persisted and gathered village carpenters to build five tourist attractions, hoping to attract film crews and tourists. Initially, there were no tourists or revenue, but Hengdian’s fate began to change in 1995 when a retiring art director from the Beijing Film Studio visited Hengdian with director Xie Jin, who was scouting locations for “The Opium War.” Though Xie Jin initially found the attractions unsuitable, Xu’s persistence and assurances secured the location agreement.
With a tight production timeline, Xu mobilized 120 construction teams to build “19th-century Guangzhou Street,” completing it in just half a year. This success established Hengdian’s reputation in the film and cultural industry. Xu then hired Zhang Dashuai as the chief designer of Hengdian World Studios. In 1997, Zhang brought director Chen Kaige to Hengdian for “The Emperor and the Assassin,” offering to build the set free of charge. With Xie Jin’s endorsement, Chen Kaige accepted, and an investment of 100 million yuan (approx. 13.8 million USD) was made to build the Qin Palace in eight months.
Hengdian World Studios continued to expand, building over thirty film shooting bases, including the Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival and the Ming and Qing Palaces. Hengdian became a comprehensive filming hub, accommodating the shooting needs of almost all costume and modern dramas. The Hollywood Reporter dubbed it “Oriental Hollywood,” and it has since gained global fame. Today, Hengdian can host 100 crews simultaneously, with more than two-thirds of China’s costume dramas filmed there. With a cumulative investment of 30 billion yuan (approx. 4.1 billion USD), Hengdian has become the largest film base in the world.
Lessons from Hengdian’s Model
Hengdian is not the earliest film base. In the 1930s and 1940s, film companies in Shanghai, Changchun, and other places began to build their own studios, sound stages, and locations, gradually becoming important infrastructure for the film industry. In 1987, China Central Television planned and built the China Television Film Base in Wuxi, one of the earliest film shooting bases in China. The model of building a film city for each film is easy to imitate, but achieving long-term operation and development is more difficult.
After Hengdian’s success, hundreds of film bases followed suit, but these film bases either turned into ticketed tourist attractions or faded into obscurity. Some film cities even invested tens of billions of yuan, only to become “zombie bases.” For instance, if you take the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed train, you might see a 1:1 replica of the Sphinx, Iron Man, and the Hulk as you pass by Chuzhou, Anhui. The deserted parks with rough replica buildings appear particularly eerie. Most of these film cities hoped to convert into cultural tourism projects and invest in real estate, but these half-baked ideas only brought short-term returns, resulting in significant waste of funds and land resources.
The Long-Term Approach
Apart from the construction of location sets, if Hengdian has any other distinguishing feature, it is a long-term vision. In 2000, while other film cities were pondering how to charge location fees to earn money, Hengdian announced that all scenes would be open to film crews for free. In the short term, waiving location fees resulted in a loss of tens of millions of yuan in revenue annually. But to extend the industrial chain and expand its scale, attracting film crews to shoot and stay was the primary task.
Professional service has always been Hengdian’s industry reputation and advantage, with comprehensive photography equipment and costume props, tens of thousands of extras waiting daily, professional field personnel, hotels, dining, leisure, and entertainment facilities — all providing the ultimate service. This instantly attracted a large number of film crews and curious tourists. With more than ten film cities, Hengdian has attracted hundreds of millions of visitors and billions of yuan in revenue. In Hengdian, almost every industry is linked to filmmaking, achieving common prosperity for the surrounding villagers.
Dreaming and Adapting in Hengdian
In Hengdian, everything — people, objects, and spaces — is centered around the business of dreaming. Besides its outdoor set advantages, the city began planning and building a series of sound stages a decade ago. To attract more filming crews, it acquired and integrated private sound stages and managed them centrally. Over time, it launched an ambitious plan to construct forty internationally standard sound stages, including a massive 12,000-square-meter stage. In terms of service, Hengdian is unbeatable in the film industry. During the pandemic, the suspension of film shoots and restrictions on tourism were significant blows to Hengdian World Studios. However, the film city represents only one-tenth of Hengdian Group’s business ventures. This resilience, instilled by Xu Wenrong, is rooted in strategic foresight, focusing on sustainable growth without compromising principles for short-term gains.
The Future of Film Cities
For a film city to escape the fate of cultural land enclosure and unfinished business, it is simple: either provide better service or have monopolistic technology. Their core goal is to attract film crews to shoot and stay. Once the crews come, everything else follows.
The birth of Hollywood across the ocean is closely related to film technology. In the early 20th century, American early film producers and companies were concentrated in New York and New Jersey. Inventor Thomas Edison established his laboratory in West Orange, New Jersey, where he invented many early film production and projection devices and registered patents for these devices. To escape Edison’s technological control and legal litigation, many film producers migrated west to a small town in California — Hollywood.
Due to California’s ample sunlight and pleasant climate, Hollywood became an ideal place for film production. This migration made Hollywood aware of the importance of technological innovation. In 1910, the first film production company was established, marking the birth of Hollywood’s film industry. In 1912, the first film studio was established. Subsequently, more film companies migrated here, forming a large film production center. Hollywood has always been at the forefront of film technology innovation, laying a solid foundation for becoming the benchmark and pioneer of the global film industry.
The Role of Technology and Creativity
Whether it is Hengdian or other film cities, to survive, they must first make good films. The forms of film have changed somewhat in the past two years. On the one hand, large-scale projects like “The Wandering Earth” not only demand higher film shooting and special effects technology but also show China’s ambition in pursuing internationalization and high-quality productions. The application of AIGC (Artificial Intelligence Generated Content) and virtual shooting technology can save a lot of post-production special effects costs and improve production efficiency and effects. For example, using Sora to generate videos and AR sound stage shooting are new technologies. This is not only a long-term investment in technology but also a challenge to innovative thinking and artistic expression.
Hengdian’s Enduring Spirit
When you walk into Hengdian World Studios, you sometimes forget that Hengdian is a town. The magical Hengdian and its people have built this film jungle. Anyone who comes here can find a meal, but no one comes to Hengdian just to get by; in this jungle, everyone seems to find their place. From an unknown remote town to a famous film kingdom, Hengdian’s law has always been: dare to fight, dare to work, and embrace change.
Now, with the booming short drama ecosystem and the increase in major drama crews, Hengdian is adding new high-tech sound stages and outdoor sets. Along with the Hengdian high-speed rail opening this year, there will be more tourists coming, dream-chasing actors, and gold rushers flocking in. In this jungle where passion and desire gather, and dreams and reality are divided, the sun still rises as usual, and Hengdian will welcome a more exciting and enchanting story.
References:
1. 真叫卢俊 (2021), “The Magical End of County Towns… is Hengdian”
2. CCTN (2019), “A Glimpse of Hengdian, China’s Hollywood”
3. 烹小鲜 (2022), “How Was China’s First Film City Born? | City Card: Hengdian”
4. 曾毓琳 (2008), “Hengdian Legend — Exploring the Development of Hengdian Film City”
5. 娱乐资本论 (2021), “What Film Bases Are There in China? What Are Their Characteristics? Compared to Abroad, What Is the Biggest Shortcoming in the Development of China’s Film Bases? How to Improve?”
6. 娱乐资本论 (2022), “Surviving in Hengdian: Film Industry Professionals ‘Crossing the Tribulation’”
Written by Yuechen Cui
Co-edited by Xu Di, Kun Qian, Lin Yu, and David Lafond
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This article was edited with the assistance of AI.
