Yanxiapan village's natural attractions of mountains and creeks can serve as natural settings for short TV series, said Yang Taiming, founder of Taizhou Shuifang Street Tourism Development Co Ltd. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Shuifang Street, a 20,000-square-meter tourism and retail area in Yanxiapan village of Sanmen county, Zhejiang province, is planning to transform the less used area as a production base for short TV shows and films.

Yang Taiming, founder of Taizhou Shuifang Street Tourism Development Co Ltd, developer of Shuifang Street, said in an interview on Friday.

The first 24-episode short TV series themed on time travel, with each episode of 10 minutes, will start shooting in early January.

As Yang explained, Shuifang Street mainly targets tourists from Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangsu province for short vacations. On the other hand, short TV and films have gained increasing popularity among internet viewers, which not only holds true in China but also in overseas markets. The unique shops in Shuifang Street, some of which are not operational, can serve as ideal setting for TV series.

Therefore, Shuifang Street Tourism Development has teamed up with a TV production company in Dongyang, which is known for various TV and film studios, to turn part of Shuifang Street's area into a TV production base, said Yang.

Meanwhile, Yanxiapan village's natural attractions of mountains and creeks can serve as natural settings for TV series, he added.

According to a white paper on the development of China's short drama industry (2024) released by China Netcasting Services Association in November, the market value of China's short drama market will exceed 50.44 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) at the end of 2024, up 34.9 percent year-on-year. The total annual box office revenue of films is expected at around 47 billion yuan for 2024.

By 2027, the market value of China's short drama market will exceed 100 billion yuan, according to the report.