Hainan, China: Movie Town at China's Mission Hills resort

By Paul Chai
Updated October 20 2014 - 3:23pm, first published 2:41pm
Make believe: Mission Hills Movie Town lets illusions come easy.
Make believe: Mission Hills Movie Town lets illusions come easy.
Make believe: Mission Hills Movie Town lets illusions come easy.
Make believe: Mission Hills Movie Town lets illusions come easy.
Make believe: Mission Hills Movie Town lets illusions come easy.
Make believe: Mission Hills Movie Town lets illusions come easy.
Make believe: Mission Hills Movie Town lets illusions come easy.
Make believe: Mission Hills Movie Town lets illusions come easy.
All out: A swimming pool sits adjacent to one of the Mission Hills Resort golf courses.
All out: A swimming pool sits adjacent to one of the Mission Hills Resort golf courses.

I have been transported to Shanghai in 1942 and I didn't come via a souped-up DeLorean, just a modest shuttle bus from Mission Hills resort in Hainan. Yet now I am surrounded by antique signage, hand-painted movie posters for historic hits such as The 49 Steps, and vintage-tea exporters. Shop owners flit up and down the street in bright-coloured cheongsams against a backdrop of buildings that have been recreated from historical photographs, places like the West Hill Clock Tower and the fully operational Chongqing Guotai movie theatre.

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