Xi'an Film Studio - Xiyang in short - was founded in the 1950s and became, from the mid-1980s, one of the most influential studios in the country. A striking share of the directors, cinematographers and actors who built the international reputation of Chinese cinema in that period came through it, and a run of films shot there in the late 1980s and 1990s won major prizes at European festivals. For anyone interested in film, the studio's old site in the south-western part of the city is a more interesting stop than its size suggests.
What has become of it
The production workshops, the gate house, the old screening rooms and the surrounding yards have been kept rather than demolished, and the site now operates as a film-themed cultural district: a museum covering the studio's history and its equipment, exhibition spaces in the old production halls, workshops, small cinemas and a scatter of cafes and shops among the buildings. Original cameras, editing equipment, costumes, set models and production stills are on display, and the archive material is strongest for the studio's golden period in the 1980s and 1990s.
Why it is worth an afternoon
Xi'an's standard itinerary is a thousand years old - the terracotta army, the wall, the pagodas, the tombs. Xiyang is twentieth century, and it tells a different story about how the city saw itself as it industrialised. The site is also a working example of how China has handled industrial heritage: rather than clearing the workshops, the city kept the shells and put culture inside them. The same approach appears at the Dahua cotton mill in the north-east and at several other Xi'an sites, so seeing one helps you read the others.
Practical notes
The studio district lies south-west of the old city, reachable by metro plus a short taxi, and it is quiet on weekdays. Allow two to three hours for the museum and the site. Museum captions are mostly in Chinese, so a translation app or a guide makes a real difference. Combine it with the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum or the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, both of which are in the same general direction from the centre.
