{"id":3671,"date":"2026-11-02T15:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T10:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3671"},"modified":"2026-11-02T15:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T10:04:14","slug":"chinas-hollywood-turns-visitors-into-stars-with-immersive-drama-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3671","title":{"rendered":"China’s ‘Hollywood’ turns visitors into stars with immersive drama experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Onlookers \u200ccraned their necks outside an ornate palace chamber, peering through the doors at four women in silk robes and jade hairpins acting out a court intrigue.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One consort slapped another across the face, the director called for another take, and the cast huddled over \u200btheir phones. Then they started laughing.<\/p>\n

But the scene was not for a television drama.<\/p>\n

The women were friends who \u200bhad travelled more than 1,500 km to star in their own production at \u2060Hengdian World Studios, the sprawling complex in eastern China known as \u201cChina\u2019s Hollywood\u201d, where many of the country\u2019s period dramas \u200bare filmed.<\/p>\n

The studio has expanded into experiential tourism, allowing visitors to shoot their own scenes on sets ranging from \u200ba replica of Beijing\u2019s Forbidden City to old Shanghai streets used in professional productions.<\/p>\n

Since the experience launched in August, Hengdian said more than 2,000 people had taken part, with bookings full on most days, particularly during weekends and holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the National Day holiday, I \u200bshoot from morning until dark, and there are still guests we can\u2019t fit in,\u201d said Wang Weili, a \u200bdirector who once filmed 20 groups in a single day.<\/p>\n

The attraction reflects a broader shift in Chinese consumer spending.<\/p>\n

While a slowing economy and \u200cprolonged \u2060property slump<\/a> have weighed on purchases of everything from luxury goods to home furnishings, consumers have continued to spend on travel, entertainment and experiences, fuelling demand for immersive attractions such as live-action role-playing games, historical re-enactments and interactive film shoots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kid, I loved playing director and getting the other children to act out scenes,\u201d said \u200bClare Huang, who was \u200bplaying an empress in her \u2060group\u2019s palace drama.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always enjoyed this kind of thing, so today a few of us girls get to see what it feels like.\u201d<\/p>\n

For 388 yuan ($55) each, Huang and \u200bher friends got their hair and makeup done, costumes, a 30-minute directed shoot and a \u200b90-second edited video. \u2060Guests can choose from more than 20 scripts, most involving palace intrigue, romance or betrayal.<\/p>\n

Another customer, Xie, a 28-year-old influencer who gave only her family name, travelled to Hengdian after seeing videos of the shoots on social media. She paid 498 \u2060yuan ($70) \u200bfor a solo session based on an original script.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have proms \u200bin China, so now people go out in costume instead,\u201d Xie said. \u201cEveryone is willing to dress up a bit more boldly and show themselves \u200bin the best way they can.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Onlookers \u200ccraned their necks outside an ornate palace chamber, peering through the doors at four women in silk robes and jade hairpins acting out a court intrigue. One consort slapped another across the face, the director called for another take, and the cast huddled over \u200btheir phones. Then they started laughing. But the scene was not for a television drama. The women were friends who \u200bhad travelled more than 1,500 km to star in their own production at \u2060Hengdian World Studios, the sprawling complex in eastern China known as \u201cChina\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}