Pannysylvania Magazine

Suzhou, China – November 13, 2026 – Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2, released in January 2025, grossed more than 15.9 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) at the box office, ranking fifth among the world’s highest-grossing films and becoming the highest-grossing animated film globally. One of its co-producers, Suzhou Red Whale Film and Television Culture Communication Co, is based in Xiangcheng district, Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu province.

Red Whale handled about a quarter of the film’s 2,427 shots, more than any other co-producer. Its 160 staff members worked on the project for 26 months, joining at the script stage and covering character and scene layout, animation, simulation, visual effects and lighting.

The company is one of more than 160 film, television and animation companies in the district. Including micro-dramas, cultural trade, digital content and design, Xiangcheng is home to more than 1,000 digital culture businesses.

Established in 2001, Xiangcheng is one of Suzhou’s youngest districts. Located in the heart of the Yangtze River Delta, the district is home to Suzhou North Railway Station, just 23 minutes from Shanghai Hongqiao by high-speed train.

An aerial view of Suzhou Film and Television Industry Park in Xiangcheng district

Platforms including the Yuanhetang National Cultural Industry Demonstration Park and Suzhou Film and Television Industry Park anchor the cluster. Together, they have helped Xiangcheng build an industry chain spanning script development, production, post-production and release.

The digital studio at Suzhou Film and Television Industry Park is one of China’s largest single-building virtual production bases equipped with optical motion-capture technology, offering a comprehensive range of technical facilities. The park’s Film Channel Production Base is home to Jiangsu province’s only panoramic sound-mixing studio.

The Suzhou Micro-Drama Industry Alliance, established in January 2025, and the Suzhou Research Institute of Nanjing University of the Arts, opened in April 2025, have strengthened industry coordination and helped train talent.

Investment has followed. In June 2026, Suzhou Interactive Star Network Technology Co, a local company developing AI-driven series and interactive film-games, received a strategic investment from Bingo Group, the Hong Kong-listed company controlled by actor and filmmaker Stephen Chow.

AI is also broadening access to the industry. Qin Wenshan, who began learning about AI-generated content (AIGC) technology in late 2023, has since established his own team in Xiangcheng. Some of the team’s short videos have attracted more than 100 million views.

“Film and television production used to require large teams working together. Now, with AI, one person can take on multiple roles,” Qin said.

The results are reaching screens. One example is Golden Waves of Rice, an original musical micro-drama described as a Chinese countryside version of La La Land. Since its release on June 26, 2026, it had attracted more than 12 million views by July 6.

The 52-episode China-US co-produced animated series My Ne Zha and Transformers, which received key technical support from Suzhou Sanling Animation, has also won acclaim. Meanwhile, the film Dust to Dust set a box-office record for a film produced by a Suzhou-based company, grossing 439 million yuan.

The district now measures its output in minutes. Its digital studio is designed to produce 3,000 to 5,000 minutes of motion-capture content a year, accounting for about a quarter of the national capacity for this type of production. How Xiangcheng puts that capacity to use, both at home and abroad, is the next chapter.

About Xiangcheng district

Xiangcheng district, established in 2001, is one of Suzhou’s youngest districts. Located in the heart of the Yangtze River Delta, it boasts convenient transportation. In recent years, the district has ramped up efforts to build a hub for film, TV and animation, with a complete industry chain spanning script development, production, post-production and release gradually shaped.

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