Cashing in on the cinematic view

Despite being a county-level city in Shandong province, Laoling attracts hordes of tourists for the time-travel-like experience it offers in the form of a visit to San Francisco's Chinatown at the turn of the 20th century.

The Laoling Film Studio, an emerging tourist attraction in the small city under the jurisdiction of Dezhou, received 150,000 visitors and earned over 90 million yuan ($12.39 million) during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, according to statistics from Guangming Daily and Dazhong Daily.

The studio has become popular as the primary location for Detective Chinatown 1900, this year's second highest-grossing film in China, which has raked in over 3.4 billion yuan ($466.2 million) at the box office. The main set, a meticulous re-creation of San Francisco's Chinatown, covers a 200,000-square-meter plot and took seven months to complete.

During a recent event organized by the China Film Administration and the China Media Group, the studio was highlighted together with a number of film and TV production sites and historical cities that have served as inspiration for popular productions.

Titled "China Travel with Chinese Films", the event was designed to attract more international tourists by leveraging the popularity of recent film releases and the 240-hour visa-free transit policy.

Ne Zha 2, China's biggest box-office hit and now the world's seventh highest-grossing film of all time, has significantly boosted the sale of lotus root powder in Hubei province, which produces over 80 percent of lotus root varieties.

"Sales in Hubei have more than doubled since the release of Ne Zha 2," says Ma Yiliang, chief statistician of the China Tourism Academy.

"Tourists not only buy it for themselves, but also purchase it as a holiday gift for relatives and friends, which has led to a rise in tourism and generated substantial economic benefits," he adds.

The surge in demand is linked to the opening scene in the film, in which the protagonist, Nezha, and his friend Ao Bing are resurrected using a magic mixture of water and lotus root powder after their physical bodies are destroyed in a catastrophe. The scene builds upon the events of the first film, which was released in 2019, where their souls endure after their bodies perish.

Yibin in Sichuan province also saw a remarkable increase in tourists to Nezha Palace, which is located in the Cuiping Mountain Scenic Area. The 2,200-square-meter compound built in 1991 was inspired by the legends of Nezha in various works of fiction, including Fengshen Yanyi (Investiture of the Gods), a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) novel.

Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, a martial arts film adapted from late novelist Louis Cha's bestseller The Legend of the Condor Heroes, has raised the reputation of Xiangyang in Hubei, as it includes an epic scene depicting protagonist Guo Jing and his beloved Huang Rong defending the city against the enemy during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).

Thanks to this film and Ne Zha 2, Xiangyang and Yibin ranked 39th and 49th respectively among 343 major cities in China in terms of the number of domestic tourists received, Ma says.

With the Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, the second installment of a planned trilogy inspired by the Fengshen Yanyi, and the Chinese navy-themed movie Operation Hadal — both filmed in Qingdao, Shandong province — China Movie Metropolis has also been on a hot streak, attracting more tourists.

Sun Hengqin, president of China Movie Metropolis, says that its 40 soundstages were constructed according to the standards of Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom, and vary in size from 1,000 to 10,000 square meters.

Noel Sirerol Gonzalez, a Spaniard living in Beijing, says that he watched three films during the Spring Festival holiday: Ne Zha 2, Detective Chinatown 1900, and the animated film Boonie Bears: Future Reborn.

"The two bear brothers are so adorable. I heard that they have a chain of amusement parks called Fantawild. I hope I can visit one of them," Gonzalez says.

Gonzalez, who has been studying Chinese for nine years, also says that Chinese films have been an important source in helping him improve his language, citing writer-turned-director Guo Jingming's romance franchise Tiny Times as a good example, as its Mandarin dialogue is simple for learners to understand.

Luc Bendza, an actor from Gabon, says that he has lived in China for over 40 years and has a strong interest in Chinese culture, especially martial arts. This led him to watch Tsui Hark's Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants.

"The movie features scenes of grasslands, which are grand and majestic. It also has a lot of scenes in Xiangyang. I hope I can visit the city in the future," he says.

Melina Weber from Germany says that she has been impressed by the stunning visual effects of Ne Zha 2, as well as the movie's cultural elements, such as Taoism and the two cameo characters inspired by bronze masks unearthed at Sanxingdui, which reminded her of trips to Sichuan province. The dialect spoken by Taiyi Zhenren, Nezha's celestial master, stirred memories of hiking in Leshan and Emei mountains.

She also says that she hopes to visit Baoji in Shaanxi province, as the city is home to the ancient site of Xiqi — the state from which the character of Ji Fa, who fights against a brutal tyrant in an epic battle over 3,000 years ago in Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, comes.

Narnaash, an actress from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, who plays the female general Deng Chanyu in Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force, suggests that people interested in the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century-11th century BC) setting of the movie can visit the Henan Museum, the Yinxu Museum in Anyang, and Hebi, the city in Henan province, home to the ancient site of Zhaoge, capital of the Shang Dynasty.

The pivotal symbol of Commander Wen Zhong's Shi Jue Zhen, a powerful form of magic capable of slaughtering many people with light, is inspired by the character of chen (minister) inscribed on an oracle bone in one of the museums, she says.