Day 1
A few weekends ago the GEPers visited Heng Dian, a city locally dubbed as ‘Chinese Hollywood.’
Our first stop was at Heng Dian World Studios: a super complex of old looking buildings, picturesque lakes with coy fish, and gardens with fake trees and flowers for actors to look convincing in. This studio is the heart of Chinese cinema, with total assets of over 3 billion RMB, producing international blockbusters like ‘Hero’ and ‘Warlords’—starring Jet Li. The CEO of this Chinese film monster, naturally a local legend, is famous for having 173 Mercedes Benzes sitting in his cavernous garage.
We snapped photos like movie stars, experienced a very unscary Haunted House, saw actors on the set of a shoot, shot arrows at targets for 10 Yuan, and rode around on rented bikes—“Nihaoing” and ringing our bells at any unlucky Chinese that crossed our path.
We also saw a group of Chinese acrobats perform—an awesome spectacle of girl hoisting, hat throwing, man impaling, plate spinning, and rope swinging. Just look at these circus freaks go:
After that, we paid 40 Yuan to watch our first COCK FIGHT! We couldn’t believe this was legal… But hey, this is China. I had a few moral spasms about paying to watch such animal cruelty…but the Chinese ringleader assured us that the battle wouldn’t be to the death. So no need to avert your eyes…just check out these seriously pissed off roosters:
Our next visit was to a different movie set: an exact replica of the Qing Palace—the emperor’s most opulent crib during China’s first Dynasty. The place was huge… with a massive courtyard, castle walls, horses, hundreds of steps, and an impressive hall with a golden throne and pond for wish-coins. This was also the place where ‘Hero’ was filmed—recognized as China’s first international blockbuster. We beat the palace drum, saw actors on a set, and stood on the same sacred turf where Jet Li kicked so much Imperial ass.
We ended the day at ‘Dreamlike Valley,’ one of the largest amusement parks in Asia. We watched a show where several GEPers got wet by fake rains and floods, saw dancers on stage in glittering outfits, and rode on tall metal towers that dropped and flipped and swirled. There is something strangely euphoric about being locked into a plastic seat and staring down at the ground from hundreds of meters in the air. We squealed like baby piglets.
The day ended by watching an elaborate show that involved flashing lights, samurai warriors in LED suits, dancers in multicolored spandex, fire-breathing metal dragons, and fluorescent lava oozing down the sides of a behemoth, fake volcano.
-Seb
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