The Hengdian Film Museum documents the history of Chinese cinema and, in particular, the rise of Hengdian itself as a production centre. Exhibits trace the technical history of Chinese filmmaking from early silent pictures through the studio system of the 1930s and 1940s to the present. The Hengdian-specific galleries chronicle how a small Zhejiang town transformed into the world's most prolific film production complex within a single generation, with photographs, original scripts, costumes, and set pieces from major productions shot here.
The museum includes sections on the craft of historical drama production — how sets are researched and built, how costumes are made, how extras are trained and deployed. For visitors with any interest in the film industry, this is the most informative part of the complex. A hall of famous scenes played back on large screens rounds out the visit, with an emphasis on the epic productions that made Hengdian's reputation: The Founding of a Republic, Red Cliff, and dozens of long-running television series.