Lingshanwei, which used to be a famous town for coast defence, currently emerges as an influential film and TV base in China.

The Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis kicked off construction in September, 2013，with four large Chinese characters “Dong Fang Ying Du” (Oriental Movie Metropolis) erected on Chaoyang Mountain. From then on, a continuous stream of activities are put on.

In March 2015, the Great Wall, a fantasy movie co-produced by China and the US and directed by Zhang Yimou, was filmed in the Oriental Movie Metropolis, followed by Pacific Rim: Uprising, a movie directed by Steven S. DeKnight, in December 2016. The Oriental Movie Metropolis caught widespread attention as the two films The Wandering Earth and Crazy Alien were put on in the 2019 Spring Festival. In the 2023 Spring Festival holiday period for movies, The Wandering Earth II and Creation of The God:Kingdom of Storms marked the rise of Chinese-produced science fiction films and mythology films, respectively. The Oriental Movie Metropolis has witnessed the production of Chinese blockbusters as well as China’s efforts to seek innovation and breakthrough in the film and TV industry.

Covering a total area of 1.7 million square meters, the Qingdao Oriental Movie Metropolis boasts 40 film studios compliant with international standards, 32 setting workshops, a world-class underwater production center and an audio-visual center having process-wide post production equipment as well as Asia’s largest and China’s first micron-level ultra-high-precision face scanning system “Dome Light Field”, known as a pacesetter in application of digital technology and virtual production in China’s film and TV industry.

In October 2017, Qingdao was designated as a UNESCO Creative City of Film. To date, the core area of Qingdao Film and TV base has housed more than 1,000 film and TV companies, welcomed over 360 film or TV crews, saw more than 400 registered projects, and generated over RMB35 bln in box office earnings.

Qingdao, which is among the earliest Chinese cities to see the charm of films, has been deeply attached to films over a century and prospered together with the film industry.  (Wang Kai)

Film-related elements can be seen ubiquitously along Lingshan Bay. By Zhao Jianpeng