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Filming in China

International production companies appear to be more interested in Chinese locations as a way of accessing its lucrative domestic market, rather than being driven by an interest in exotic filming locations.

China is not thought of as being a particularly film-friendly location for international shoots, but China became the biggest film market in 2020, and co-production status can make local shoots easier and, crucially, help ease the route into Chinese cinemas. Co-production treaties are in place with many countries including the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Germany and Spain.

The Meg was one of the highest grossing US-China co-production to date and was filmed in China with a cast led by Jason Statham and Li Bingbing and a host of Chinese and US stars.

Pacific Rim: Uprising and Godzilla were some of the first Hollywood films shot at Wanda Studios, in Qingdao where international films that shoot are provided with a 40% tax rebate. The studio opened in 2016 and is example of China's expansive studios with forty soundstages that have hosted Chinese sci-fi Wandering Earth and US-China co-production The Great Wall.

Other renowned movie cities include Hengdian World Studios with credits including  Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Shanghai Film Park and Zhongshand TV and Film City among others.

 

We are building a world-class film and television studio and we are creating extremely generous production incentives which together will allow Wanda Studios Qingdao to successfully compete on a global scale.

Nancy Romano, CEO of Wanda Studios Qingdao

Climate

The climate varies from a bitter -20C in north China's winter - it's common to see sand dunes covered in snow - to summer extremes of 40C in the south.

In central China the Yangtze River valley has long and humid summers with high temperatures and lots of rain from April to October.
Wuhan, Chongqing and Nanjing on the Yangtze can reach 36C at the hottest time of year. Temperatures in winter drop well below freezing and can be as cold as in northern cities.

In the south of China, near Guangzhou, the summer is a season of typhoons between July and September. Temperatures can easily rise to 40C. Winters are short - between January and March - and not as cold as the north.

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