Group of actors dressed as soldiers in military costumes engaged in a battle scene on a grassy field, with a large green screen backdrop behind them for a film or TV production.

Epic Battles, Palaces and Concubines: A Chinese Studio’s Vast World of Fantasy

Two men are practicing parkour on mats in an outdoor parking lot, with trucks and equipment in the background, and a young boy lying on a blue mat.

If you are going to make a movie in China today about ancient warriors defending a mythical kingdom or a partisan resisting the Japanese occupation in the 1930s, or involving any variation of that staple of China’s entertainment industry — the back-stabbing concubine drama — chances are you are going to make it in Hengdian.

The city is home to Hengdian World Studios, which claims to be the world’s largest outdoor movie and television lot.

To call it a “lot” is an understatement. It is not one lot, but 13 of them, scattered over 2,500 acres in and around what was once a sleepy farming village nestled in the hills of Zhejiang Province, in eastern China.

There are other studios in China — Shanghai Film Park, for example. Only in Hengdian, though, will you find a faithful recreation of the palace of Qin Shi Huang, who ruled in the third century B.C. near what is today known as Xi’an, or of the capital of the Northern Song dynasty, which reigned from the 10th to the 12th centuries.

There is even a Forbidden City that is not only startlingly realistic, but also only a little bit smaller than the real thing in Beijing.

Text By Steven Lee Myers

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A person stands in a body of water, surrounded by trees, while three crew members film and monitor him using professional camera equipment near the water's edge.
Four people pulling a rope in a dimly lit room with red lanterns hanging from the ceiling and traditional decor.
A large group of people standing in a line outdoors on a dirt path near green hills and trees, some holding papers, with containers on the ground in front of them.
People walking and talking in a bustling, old-fashioned outdoor market with wooden structures, stairs, and carts, set in a traditional Asian setting.
A line of four women and one man waiting outside in an urban setting, with traditional East Asian architecture in the background. The women are standing behind a wooden barrier, and the man is leaning against it, holding a water bottle and a small green container. The ground appears wet, and there are yellow caution signs and a red and white barrier.
Filming of a historical scene in a restaurant with actors in period costumes, a camera operator, crew members, and seated audience.
Film crew setting up equipment outside a traditional Asian building with a tiled roof, possibly for shooting a scene.
Two monitors on a filmmaking set displaying outdoor scenes with people in traditional clothing, with a person seated nearby.
A historical battle reenactment featuring soldiers in armor engaged in combat on a battlefield, with smoke and debris in the air and a mountainous landscape in the background.