Revealing the Birthplace of Ne Zha 2: Meteoric Rise of Chengdu Hi-tech Zone as a Digital Cultural and Creative Industry Highland

CHENGDU, China, Feb. 18, 2025 /Xinhua-AsiaNet/–

On February 17, the total box office revenue of the movie Demon Child Conquers the Sea (also known as Ne Zha 2) has exceeded 12.052 billion yuan, making it among the world’s top ten highest-grossing films.

The achievement of Ne Zha 2 has hit the ceiling of the Chinese animation and also captured worldwide attention towards its birthplace — the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (Chengdu Hi-tech Zone). As one of the first national high-tech zones in China and the first national independent innovation demonstration zone in western China, the zone is accelerating the construction of a world-class high-tech park, and its comprehensive strength has long been at the forefront of China’s national high-tech zones.

Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has become a primary gathering place for the development and technological innovation of electronic information, biomedicine, digital economy and other industries. The in-depth integration of science and technology and culture has also shown a strong development momentum in the digital cultural and creative industry here.

As the China (Chengdu) Internet Audiovisual Industry Base and the National Demonstration Base for the Integration of Culture and Technology, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has focused on cultivating sub-sectors such as gaming and e-sports, film and television media, digital music, and ultra-high-definition video, having established a relatively complete industrial chain covering content creation, content distribution, related services and other links and built a digital cultural and creative industry cluster valued at a hundred billion yuan. In addition to Ne Zha, which has gone viral on social media, this place is also the cradle of phenomenal cultural intellectual properties like Honor of Kings.

Image: Nezha Sculpture in the Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone

The Tianfu Changdao Digital Cultural and Creative Park in the Chengdu Hi-tech Zone hosts Chengdu Coco Cartoon Co., Ltd., home to the main creative team of Ne Zha. This park provides a close-knit space where upstream and downstream of the industrial chain are only “a cup of coffee away,” forming a complete film, television and animation industry chain from IP development, content production to merchandise operation.

With the Tianfu Changdao Digital Cultural and Creative Park as the core, most of the key companies involved in the production chain of Ne Zha 2 are located within a hundred meters. Chengdu Coco Cartoon Co., Ltd. is in charge of production, MORE VFX specializes in visual effects, and Chengdu Qianniao Cultural Communication Co., Ltd. is responsible for art design… This geographical agglomeration has also given birth to an efficient collaboration model characterized by “direct transmission from hard disk” and “face-to-face communication.”

“The park not only has a large space and a comfortable environment, but also brings together a variety of relevant companies to form a complete industrial chain. This significantly reduces the cost of communication between enterprises, making cooperation more convenient and efficient.” Liu Ying, CEO and Visual Effects Director of‌ MOREVFX Chengdu, is full of praises when speaking about the park’s environment and industrial ecosystem.

Since its inception in 2019, the Tianfu Changdao Digital Cultural and Creative Park in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone has secured the presence of more than 60 companies including Tencent New Cultural and Creative Headquarters, All Gamers e-Sports Club, Chengdu Coco Cartoon Co., Ltd. and Chengdu TZY Studio. It has created common platforms such as the National Ultra-High-Definition Video Innovation Center and the Game Innovation and Development Center of Sichuan, and is now home to approximately 6,000 industry professionals.

The emergence of Ne Zha 2 as a blockbuster ushers in more development opportunities for the digital cultural and creative industry in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone, and a highland for the development of China’s animation and film and television industry is experiencing its meteoric rise.