Tourists watch a TV-drama shoot.[Photo by Bao Kangxuan/provided to China Daily]

Li often rode horses for the camera. Now, he's riding an ebike to pick up and deliver meals for online food-delivery platform Eleme.

"At least I can keep working as a rider," he says.

Since many actors and actresses have returned, Li plans to look for roles he can play while continuing his delivery job.

"I have stayed in Hengdian for months. The hardest times will be over soon," he says.

Hengdian is the shooting base for a quarter of China's movies and onethird of its TV series. Over 64,000 episodes have been shot there.

The street was empty and quiet when producer Huang Jinmei arrived in Hengdian in mid-April. The hustle and bustle have since returned.

"In the film industry, as long as you can control the budget and provide high-quality products, there must be a place for you to survive," Huang says.

Producer Bao Mengmeng is hopeful about the future.

"Although we are encountering more challenges, we can spend more time polishing our scripts and keeping good connections with big platforms," she says.

"In such a hard time for the whole industry, I believe the fittest will survive and quality will prevail."