Tianzi Mountain in the Chinese province of Hunan, a park designated a World Heritage Site and a World Geopark by UNESCO, a spectacular stone forest, also known as The South Sky Columns, were chosen by the director of 'Avatar', James Cameron, as the setting for the avatar movie, thanks to the fact that it looks like a landscape from another world.
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| Tianzi Mountain |
Antecedent
More than 300 million years ago, in a misty region of China, a series of sandstone mountains formed west of Hunan. It is currently one of the most incredible places in the world, full of green forests. It is the Zhangjiajie Reserve where Tianzi Mountain rises, one of its highest peaks at 1262 meters.
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| Tianzi Mountain |
Location
The entire Wulingyuan Scenic Zone where the Zhangjiajie Forest National Park is located, includes a collection of more than 3,100 stone pillars of different heights where some reach 800 meters, in addition there are some valleys, dense forests, lakes, caves, waterfalls and streams that make the place a fantasy place, spread over an area of approximately 690 square kilometers. From the nearby Liuqi pavilion you get a panoramic view of the entire park: to the east is the Tianzi (Son of Heaven) mountain; to the west is the Taoist Temple of Chaotianguan, the Longfeng'an Monastery, the Hall of the Jade Emperor (Yuhuanggong) and the Qipanta Pagoda; to the north, the Heizongnao Forest can be seen, while to the south is the city of Zhangjiajie.
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| Tianzi Mountain |
Features
The mountain covers an area of 90 square kilometers and the name in Chinese means “son of the sun”. Several ethnic groups inhabit the region, taking advantage of the water currents of the rivers and the mighty waterfalls. Tianzi is known for very impressive natural spectacles. The mist that surrounds the mountain peaks are, perhaps, what gives it a mysterious and moving touch. The full moon and the snow that covers the peaks in the winter and the waterfalls with their bridges, forests and caverns scattered throughout the area.