Hengdian World Studios

Coordinates: 29°10′45″N 120°17′53″E / 29.179068°N 120.298083°E / 29.179068; 120.298083

A reconstitution of Qin Imperial Palace at Hengdian World Studios

Hengdian World Studios (Chinese: 横店影视城) is a film studio located in Hengdian, a Chinese town in the city of Dongyang, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province. It is the largest film studio in the world.[1] The movie studio is operated by the privately owned Hengdian Group founded by Xu Wenrong. Sometimes called "Chinawood", Xu turned acres of farmland in central Zhejiang into one of the largest movie studios in Asia. Construction began in the mid-1990s and has been ongoing ever since with the possible recent addition of the replica of the Old Summer Palace.[2] A film about extras working at the studio, I Am Somebody, was released in China in 2015.[3][4]

Studio

The studio consists of 13 shooting bases with a total area of up to 330 ha. and building areas of 495,995 square meters.[5] In addition to its huge scale, the studio also has several records which includes:

  1. Largest Indoor Buddha Figure in China.
  2. Largest Scale Indoor Studio.
  3. Most number of Films and Teleplay Shoots as of 2005.

One of the studio's largest buildings is the Imperial Palace Building built in the Early Chinese Dynasty style in the Qin and Han periods. That area is still frequently used to shoot movies based on these eras. The director Zhang Yimou used this building as the backdrop for the Emperor Qin's palace for his 2002 movie Hero.[6] A Hong Kong TVB drama serial titled A Step into the Past which tells the story of the First Qin Emperor also used the same building as the main backdrop. The studio was also used to film The Forbidden Kingdom, the first on-screen collaboration between actors Jackie Chan and Jet Li.[7] In addition, it was also used for the filming of the popular Korean drama serial Empress Ki.[8]

The large number of movies being filmed at Hengdian has supported employment in surrounding villages by employing local villagers as 'extras' in these large movie sets.[9]

Today, Hengdian World Studios consists of a theme park and has attractions such as Guangzhou and Hong Kong Street areas, Emperor Qin Palace, Dazhi Temple and Palace of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Notes

  1. ↑ Maggie Lee (June 17, 2015). "Film Review: 'I Am Somebody'". variety.com. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  2. ↑ Remaking China's 'Garden of Perfect Splendor' - World Blog - msnbc.com
  3. ↑ Maggie Lee (June 17, 2015). "Film Review: 'I Am Somebody'". variety.com. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  4. ↑ "我是路人甲 (2015)". movie.douban.com (in Chinese). douban.com. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  5. ↑ Hengdian World Studios, Yiwuen.com
  6. ↑ Stephen Short and Susan Jakes. "Making of a Hero", TIME Asia. Retrieved on 2007-05-21.
  7. ↑ Arthur Jones "Chan, Li's 'Kingdom' coming soon", Variety.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-06
  8. ↑ "Fact vs. fiction in TV drama". koreatimes. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  9. ↑ Clifford Coonan. "Hengdian back lot grows to epic proportions", VarietyAsiaOnline.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-21.
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