Hengdian is a small Chinese town in the city of Dongyang, Zhejiang province. This small town gets famous for building the world biggest world studio for shooting movies. It has many studios for filming, not just a few but about 10 studios, and all are huge. Some people called it China’s Hollywood. I think it is bigger than Hollywood and recently Hollywood also rushed here to film due to cheap labor and good process of film making.
This place is so famous among the local tourists and not many foreigners knew about this place and do not know how to explore. If you wanted to find out more about the Hengdian world studio, just click on some of the links here.
Before the movie studios were built, this city has got nothing. No tourists at all and it is just plain countryside. A rich man wanted to do something for Hengdian so he built the first studio, Ming Qing Palace, exact 1:1 size of the Forbidden City. It looks exactly the same as the one in Beijing. After that, more studios were built and before you knew it, this small town has become one of the important places for movie shooting in China.
The city is very quiet as most people work in the movie studio. The studios are open to the public even there are filming going on. So if you are lucky, you may bump into celebrities that are very popular in China. Also, there are very high chances to meet the stars or celebrities in one of the restaurants or KTV in Hengdian.
Ok, let’s talk about where to stay in Hengdian. This post is about hotel review in Hengdian city.
Fengjing Jiali Hotel 丰景嘉丽大酒店
There aren’t many big hotels with 5 star international standards in Hengdian but many budgets and lower range hotel here. Fengjing Jiali Hotel 丰景嘉丽大酒店 is one of the top hotels in Hengdian. The price is pretty cheap since it is located in a small town. The downside is the staff does not speak English even this is one of the best hotels in Hengdian.
Since this is one of the biggest hotels in Hengdian, the chances of bumping into stars are high. Of course, it also depends on the shooting season.
The grand entrance is just remarkable with a huge fish tank facing in front of the entrance door. You won’t miss it when you enter. Inside there are a variety of fishes. The white marble poles are another eye-catching items in the lobby, it makes the guests feel very important.
Free charging machine for phones located at the grand lobby.
Their rooms are divided into several themes and we were given a family room with lots of animation characters sticking throughout the whole room. We booked 3 pax sharing.
See what I mean, the walls are full of cute stickers for younger children I am sure.
Inside the bathroom, there is a shower and a bathtub with plastic ducks for the little kids to play with.
I have never seen so many stickers in my life, except entering in a childcare center.
There is a computer and a small working table near the bed.
The map for all the famous studios in Hengdian. As you can see all are located quite near to each other.
On the table, there is a small gift for the guests. It was some pickles to eat together with rice.
The morning breakfast range is huge, the place to have breakfast is classy. Lots of interesting decoration from the west and east mix together. The hanging lights are beautiful too. The ambient is just awesome.
During the day I didn’t see any guest in the lobby but when I had my breakfast early in the morning, I was shocked to meet so many guests. This implies guests usually go out early to visit all the studios.
Let’s find out the food here. Overall, a mix of Chinese and Western but of course, you find more variety of Chinese here.
Below is fish skin served cold.
You will find the fruit and juice corners, all items are displayed in very neat manner.
This is the Chinese fermented bean curd n red color. Taste sweet, bitter and salty. It goes well with porridge in the morning. Chinese love to have porridge in the morning, rather than bread as they like to have something warm always.
Next item is the bamboo shoot, also goes well with porridge.
Marinated Kombu or seaweed here, similar to Japanese, the Chinese love kombu seaweed too. Eating kombu seaweeds will help ease constipation.
The chef who makes hot noodles for the guest. As I mentioned, Chinese love noodles and hot soup early in the morning. They believe to eat something warm and hot will keep their stomach warm and the body won’t easily catch a cold.
I love their pastries, very authentic, and Chinese style.
Another thing I love is their dessert, not very sweet but it was served hot.
Luckily the lable is also written in English.
Don’t you love the wall decoration above the salad bar?
Outside the hotel, there is spacious parking area for guests who drive here.
Mansion housing opposite our hotel. Looks like where the rich stay.
The shuttle bus stop for the bus to all the movie studios.
Final thoughts:
Feng Jing Jia li hotel is one of the best hotels in Hengdian, there aren’t many choices for the international standard hotel in this city. However, they do have many cheaper and smaller hotels. This hotel is also very popular for all movie crews so the chances of meeting your favorite stars are high. 🙂