Zhongshan & Jiangmen: Into the Film Sets of *The Knockout* and *Let the Bullets Fly*
Zhongshan and Jiangmen sit right next to each other, and from downtown Zhongshan you can string several film-location stops together in a single afternoon. The best thing about this area isn’t any one standalone attraction — it’s that “stepping into the movie” feeling. The old factory street from The Knockout and the Goose Town from Let the Bullets Fly are both here. Add the dress-up photo shoots at the Zhongshan Film Studio and two relaxed hikes up Lion Head Mountain and Yaji Mountain, and you have a full, varied weekend. Here it is, spot by spot.
Sanshisan Xu Street (the Knockout old factory district)
At a glance
- Location: Jiangmen
- Time needed: a full afternoon (starting from downtown Zhongshan)
- Getting there: by transit or by car
- Budget: under RMB 100 (1 person, transit + snacks)
- Effort: 1 star
- Good for: friends, couples (best after you’ve watched The Knockout)
- Season & weather: go when it’s cooler
- Highlight: stepping into the world of The Knockout
The Knockout was one of the hottest TV dramas of 2022, and I stumbled onto the fact that it was filmed right here in Jiangmen. What stuck with me most after visiting was how hard the local shops play along. To sell their own snacks and specialties, the vendors go all out riffing on the show’s running gags — lines and scenes from the drama are recreated everywhere, and wandering through it is genuinely fun.
Tips
- By transit or car, just navigate to “Sanshisan Xu Street” (三十三墟街). It can get crowded and congested with hard-to-find parking, so consider parking nearby and walking in.
Meijia Compound (the Goose Town of Let the Bullets Fly)
At a glance
- Location: Jiangmen
- Time needed: about 1 hour on site; a full afternoon round-trip from downtown Zhongshan
- Getting there: by transit or by car
- Budget: under RMB 100 (1 person, transit + snacks)
- Effort: 1 star
- Good for: friends, couples (best after you’ve watched Let the Bullets Fly)
- Season & weather: go when it’s cooler
- Highlight: taking office in Goose Town!
The place itself is small and you’ll be through it in no time, so making a special trip just to see it might leave you a little underwhelmed. But as someone who’s watched Let the Bullets Fly many times over, getting to lay eyes on it felt like checking off a wish. The compound has changed a lot — parts are still under renovation — and it’s now hard to find scenes that match the film exactly. I shot a before-and-after for reference.
Tips
- By transit or car, just navigate to “Meijia Compound” (梅家大院). The surroundings are wide open with plenty of parking.
Zhongshan Film Studio
At a glance
- Location: Zhongshan
- Time needed: about 5 hours (starting from downtown Zhongshan)
- Getting there: by transit or by car
- Budget: under RMB 300 (1 person, transit + snacks + ticket)
- Effort: 1 star
- Good for: couples, friends on a photo trip, families with kids or elders (excellent for photos)
- Season & weather: go when it’s cooler
- Highlight: dress-up photo shoots
The best thing to do at the studio is dress up and take photos. A single complex packs together buildings in all sorts of styles, so you can shoot wildly different looks all in one place; there are plenty of costume-rental shops, making it ideal for portrait shoots (you’ll see lots of people there with DSLRs shooting their friends). I snapped a few for reference — for more photogenic angles, search the spot on Xiaohongshu.
Tips
- Plan ahead: search “Zhongshan Film Studio” (中山影视城) on Meituan to buy tickets (adult ticket RMB 60).
- Getting there: just navigate to “Zhongshan Film Studio”; there’s a parking lot right there, very convenient.
Lion Head Mountain (Shitou Shan)
At a glance
- Location: Zhongshan
- Time needed: about 3 hours (starting from downtown Zhongshan)
- Getting there: drive to the trailhead
- Budget: under RMB 100 (1 person, transit + snacks)
- Effort: 2 stars
- Good for: anyone with a baseline of fitness
- Season & weather: cool, clear days with good visibility
- Highlights: a “mini Thousand Island Lake” view from the top, and a climb through bare woods
A “mini Thousand Island Lake” from the top. Reach the summit of Lion Head Mountain and you look down on a scene that resembles the famous Thousand Island Lake — a surprising find this close to downtown Zhongshan. If you’re already in the area, it’s worth the look (below is Zhongshan’s Changjiang Reservoir).
A climb through bare woods. The trail up has real character: you push through a stretch of bare, leafless forest that goes on for a long way — something you rarely see elsewhere. Personally I quite like this kind of trail.
Tips
- By transit or car, just navigate to the “Lion Head Mountain trailhead” (狮头山上山路口); parking nearby is easy.
- Follow the crowd up the whole way, then return by the same route from the summit.
Yaji Mountain
At a glance
- Location: Zhongshan
- Time needed: about 3 hours on site; a full afternoon round-trip from downtown Zhongshan
- Getting there: drive to the foot of the mountain
- Budget: under RMB 100 (1 person, transit + snacks)
- Effort: 2 stars
- Good for: pineapple lovers
- Season & weather: cool days
- Highlights: eating pineapples on a pineapple-covered mountain, and a hike to the top
Eating pineapples on a pineapple-covered mountain. This is less of a sightseeing spot and more of a pineapple plantation, so it might feel dull if you don’t like pineapples. But as someone who loves them, seeing hillsides blanketed in pineapples was a thrill. Walk in and even the buildings are decorated with pineapples; a little further and it’s pineapples as far as you can see.
You can pick your own here. When I visited, plenty of families had brought their kids along to pick — not a bad outdoor activity for the whole family. Small pineapples are sold all over, too, and gnawing on one as you walk is genuinely satisfying.
The hike to the top. The mountain isn’t tall, but the views open up nicely, even if the scenery is just okay (the sunset is supposedly lovely, though we didn’t stay long enough to catch it). If you’re here, it’s worth a wander — and packing a few small pineapples to take home afterward is its own little joy.
Tips
- By transit or car, just navigate to “Yaji Mountain Park” (丫髻山公园); parking nearby is easy.
- Follow the crowd up the whole way, then return by the same route from the summit.