When it comes to Chinese cinema, royal palaces or kung fu master hideouts often come to mind. But what you might not know is that many of these scenes are filmed in Hengdian, a town in east China’s Zhejiang Province, which is now home to the world's largest outdoor studio.

As industry professionals gather at the Shanghai International Film Festival to discuss China’s cinema development, we visited the Hengdian World Studios to see its latest developments.

With 21 filming lots sprawled over 30 square kilometers, Hengdian World Studios attracts hundreds of crews to film every year. These days more of them are Internet productions.

“No matter if it’s for TV or for the Internet, we need to perfect our production all the same. Nowadays the audiences are more discerning,” said Li Xiaojiang, a director.

“You can see our development to the scale today, as a microcosm of the development of China’s film and TV industry. As dramas and movies flourish, they need more scenes and so we continue to build to meet that need,” Yin Xu, vice president of Hengdian Group.

Hengdian’s expansion also includes a plan to build more studios. Hengdian now has 87 studios and is expected to have 200 by the end of 2021 or early 2022.

With green screens and digital technologies, crews can customize a set to their liking.

“You can modify the physical palace of course. You can repaint it, you can knock something off, (and) add some decoration. What you can do in the physical world, you can do in the digital world with much less cost,” said Cao Zhengzhi, an engine support director with the Surreal film production (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

“Offering smart digital solutions are a must, because nowadays filming techniques have improved and there is more demand for quality. But it’s only just started,” said Yin.