What do steel mills and movie magic have in common? In Wuxi, China, the answer is spectacular! The city’s former industrial giant – once its largest steel mill – now sparkles as the Wuxi National Digital Film Industrial Park, nicknamed 'Hualaiwood' by locals.
This isn’t your average studio lot. Over 1,200 films and TV series have rolled out of its futuristic soundstages, including global hits like The Wandering Earth (sci-fi fans, unite! ) and the heroic Chinese Doctors. Reporter Zhu Zhu describes it as 'a playground for creatives, where cranes once lifted steel, they now hoist Hollywood-grade lighting rigs.'
Tech alert: Hualaiwood boasts cutting-edge production tools like virtual volumetric capture (think Avatar-level effects
) and AI-driven post-production systems. Next time you binge a historical drama, it might’ve been crafted in this eco-friendly reboot of industrial history!
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Live: "Hualaiwood" – A steel mill transformed into a film base
cgtn.com