Drone Videos of Northeastern China

Multiple Drone Video of the Week/Month Winner PANVELVET brings us this fantastic drone video of China's Great Wall, complete with a set of traditionally-garbed dancers and an electronic keyboard player.  The Great Wall is a series of fortifications built in the mountains surrounding the Chinese heartland for protection against the steppe nomad to the north and west.  Construction began in the 7th century BC and continued intermittently for centuries, reaching its current extent during the Ming Dynasty that rules China from 1368-1644. 

Top contributor denisbarbas brings us this stunning drone video of the city of Shanghai, China.  At the :16, you'll get a great view of the trapezoidal opening atop the Shanghai World Financial Center, which was the second-tallest building in the world when it opened in 2008 and remains Shanghai's second-tallest as of 2025.  Starting at :27, you'll get a close-up of the spherical Oriental Pearl Tower, one of Shanghai's most iconic sites.  At :48, you'll see Shanghai Tower, Shanghai's tallest and the third-tallest in the world as of 2025.  

Drone Video of the Year Runner-Up T-christ-T brings us this spectacular drone video of the great city of Tianjin, China.  One of the ten largest cities in China, Tianjin is located at the mouth of the Hai River on the Bohai Sea (an inlet of the Yellow Sea), about 70 mi. (around 110 km) southeast of Beijing.  One of China's largest seaports and the principal port for Beijing, Tianjin occupies a critical spot on the Grand Canal, a waterway which connects many of the most important rivers in eastern and northeatern China.  

China's Yangtze River is the longest in Asia and third longest in the world.  Rising in the highlands of Tibet, it runs over 6.3k km (just under 4k mi.) to discharge into the East China Sea at the great city of Shanghai, the world's busiest port.  More than any individual city, this mighty river is the very heart of China.  In this video, contributor Mamitagadventures flies a DJI Mavic Pro drone over the great waterway, giving us bird's eye views of Shibaozhai Pagoda Temple, Chongquing, Yichang, and more.

Harbin is a medium-sized city in northeastern China, and the capital of the Heilongjiang province.  Harbin's founding and growth were closely associated with the East China Railway, the main railway which ran across Manchuria and which was built by Imperial Russia in the late 19th century via concessions.  In this video, you'll get an aerial glimpse of this important provincial capital, whose cityscape has been transformed by the magnificent Opera House which you'll see as the first aerial shot.  

China's capital Beijing is one of the world's few large cities not located on a coast or major river.  Rather, the great city once known as Peking owes its existence to being at the north end of the North China Plain.  Surrounded on all other sides by mountains, Peking served a historical role guarding the approaches from the Eurasian steppe into what is in effect the heart of China on the great alluvial plain.  Contributor borje_xy created this amazing drone videos of the mountains surrounding the capital city.

Contributor and FPV pilot Gespar used a racing drone to capture China's answer to the iconic "Hollywood" sign in the hills over Los Angeles.  The city is Qingdao (Tsingtao), and it's one of the biggest cities in northeastern China.  Better known for its beer, it's now home to a multi-billion dollar film production studio.  Which is why the sign says (translated from Mandarin) is "Movie Metropolis of the East".  This video was shot from a racing drone being flown first person view ("FPV") with video goggles.  

Former Drone Video Award Winner panvelvet brings us this spectacular DVOW winning video from Shanghai, as the great city was lit up by a massive laser show to celebrate the 70th birthday of the People's Republic of China.  Part of the video was shot from the Bund on the western side of the Hunagpu River looking toward the skyscrapers of the ultra-modern Pudong district on the river's opposite side.  Other parts were shot from Pudong itself, with some magnificent footage of some of the world's tallest skyscrapers lit up by lasers.  

Ningbo is one of the great cities of the Yangtze River Delta.  Situated in the province of Zhejiang, it occupies the southern part of the great estuary.  It's one of the oldest cities in the country, with settlements dating to nearly 5,000 BC.  Carved by numerous canals, the city's port on the East China Sea is amongst the world's busiest, rivaling that of Shanghai.  In this video, you'll be able to see this ancient city from a bird's eye perspective, compliments of contributor and drone pilot Dankstarr.    

Dalian is the northeasternmost of China's major cities.  It's the largest city in the province of Liaoning, the most populous of northeastern China.  It lies at the tip of the Shandong Peninsula, a protrusion into the Yellow Sea.  Originally founded by the Russian Empire, the area was ceded to Japan following the Russo Japanese War of 1904-5 and returned to China by the USSR following World War II.  In this drone video by contributor tk.shinoy, you can see this important coastal city from a bird's eye perspective.   

While the Yangtze River Delta in eastern China is best known for Shanghai, there are a number of other large cities on the estuary of the country's longest (and most important) river.  One of these cities is Changshu.  It's part of the Jiangshu province, which covers much of the delta outside of Shanghai (which is its own provincial-level administrative unit).  In this drone video by Mattcoq, you'll get a drone's eye view of the city's Fangta Tower Park, which was built around the Songjiang Square Pagoda.

In this amazing drone video by borje_xy, you'll get a marvelous drone's eye view of a spot in Northeastern China which shows the contrast between the "Old" and "New" China.  It's shot along a portion of the Great Wall, most of which was built during the Ming Dynasty which lasted from the mid-14th to the mid-17th centuries.  In the shadow of this magnificent structure, you'll see the Beijing S2 train line, which whisks passengers in and out of nearby Beijing at speeds of up to 160 km per hour (about 100 mph).  

Check out this amazing drone video of an island in one of China's largest lakes, compliments of top content creator and pilot Mattcoq.  Xishan Island is located in Lake Tai (sometimes called Lake Taihu), which is located on the border of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang.  The area is situated near the base of the Yangtze River Delta.  It's the third largest lake in China by land area, although it's extremely shallow - its average depth is just 2 meters (about 6.5 ft.).  Xishan is the largest island in the lake.  

Check out this fantastic drone video of the shipping activity at the massive seaport of Tianjin, China, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot The Drone Flights.  The city's port, which lies on the Bohai Sea (an inlet of the Yellow Sea), has acted as the gateway to Beijing, which lies a short distance upstream on the Hai River.   While Tianjin is now China's fourth-largest city, its seaport maintains a symbiotic relationship with the great capital city to its northwest and is one of China's busiest containerports.  

Top contributor Panvelvet used the Chinese city of Shanghai as the backdrop for this epic drone film, shot over a period of 24 hours.  Filmed in a fully controlled environment, the video shows an actor standing atop several of the more prominent towers in this megalopolis, which as of the end of 2018 had over 150 buildings of at least 150 meters (about 480 ft.) in height, fourth amongst the world's cities.  This video was a winner at the second annual Drone Video Awards Winner in the Originality category.

Contributor Chengqi created this fascinating drone video of a a major city in Northeastern China.  It's called Nantong, and it is situated in the northern part of the great Yangtze River Delta in the province of Jiangsu.  The city features a deepwater port and a resilient textile manufacturing industry.  Nantong was considered to be amongst the very first Chinese cities to industrialize. Amazingly, despite a built-up population of over 7 million, it's not even one of the 20 largest cities in China.  

Suzhou is one of the most important cities in Northeastern China.  Situated on a lake-covered plain south of the Yangtze River, it's sometimes called the City of Water.  Founded in the 6th century BC, it's a major commercial center and the #2 city in the Jiangsu Province after Nanjing.  Take an aerial tour of the city and its watery surroundings in this excellent drone video by the drone flights.  The highlight is at the 3:00 mark, where you'll get an over-the-top view of the 68 story Gate to the East, which stands 302 meters (990 ft.).  

Changchun is one of the northernmost cities in China: at a latitude of about 44 degrees, it's about as far north as the northernmost tier of US states.  Capital of the province of Jilin on the Northeast China Plain, Changchun has a bone-chilling winter season, with an average January temperature of -15 degrees Celsius (about -5 degrees F).  Plenty cold to keep an "ice city" well-frozen, as you will see in this amazing first person view (FPV) drone video by AirVuz contributor and FPV pilot bungoss.