Shachzhou - Dunhuang shooting area

Shachzhou - Chinese Hollywood of Dunhuang province

25 km southwest of Dunhuang there lies a small city in the middle of the desert. There are temples, streets and shops, which are supposed to come from another era. Walking around the city, you may find that you are translated to ten centuries back, when China's Song dynasty was ruling. The city impresses with its colorful. It has not a single modern building. The whole architecture reflects the old imperial China.

This unusual city is a model built in 1987 to shoot a joint Japanese-Chinese historical film. Most often, this city is called Dunhuang film set, because it is really a kind of Chinese Hollywood. Sometimes some episodes or fragments for Chinese historical films are shot there until now.

The total area of this cine city is 12,700 m2. The city was constructed after a plot of one of the famous Chinese paintings. The city was surrounded by a stone wall with three gates and a whole complex of defensive structures. The architects and stage managers had slipped a great job to make the city real.

There are five streets named in honor of Chinese cities: Gaochhan, Dunhuang, Ganzhou, Sintsin and Bianliang. Everywhere you can find small shops, stores, restaurants, houses and hotels. You have an idea that the city is about to come to life and the streets will be filled with the townsmen.

Since the city is located in the middle of the desert, it is used very often to film military movies with shootings and plenty of explosions. The shooting area is open for tourists. This is perhaps one of the most popular tourist destinations, as everyone wants to see the movie sets of their favorite movies in reality.