Tianmen Shan – Heaven’s Gate
James Cameron‘s recent epic movie “Avatar” (Floating Mountains) no doubt helps to promote the spectacular wonders of the Chinese mountain scenic attractions.
All too well, people have long been familiar with the ancient mountains located around the vast Chinese landscape so mysteriously depicted in Chinese paintings.
The five famous mountains – Huangshan, Taishan, Huashan, Hengshan & Songshan are now facing competitions with newer discoveries such as Tianmen Shan or Tianmen Mountain.(Chinese Mandarin word“Shan” means “Mountain”).
Tianmen Mountain in Hunan Province just south of Zhangjiajie City (previously known as Dayong City) is an absolutely ‘must see’ scenic area.
The main featured scenic spots are centralized in the north part of Zhangjiajie City – Wulingyuan Scenic Area which became China‘s first National Forest Park in 1983.
Cable CarsThe best way to get to the top is by cable car. A one-way trip costs CNY48. The roads are scary with many twists & turns & certainly not for the faint-hearted.
If you have more time to stay in Zhangjiajie , there are lots of places you may want to visit . . . to fill your thrills & frills . . . too many to mention here because of time & space constraint.
A scenic spot you might enjoy is the Feng Huang Cheng (Phoenix Town) located some 210 kilometers (about 130 miles) west of Zhangjiajie Village. Here you can experience that Chinese minorities lead a life of primitive simplicity unaffected by the ways of modern development. This raises the question that in the failing realm of capitalism, shouldn’t economists consider the aspect of GDH instead of GDP – H as in HAPPINESS rather than P in PRODUCTIVITY. Could you be content & happy living just a basic lifestyle?
Finally, the newly opened Yangjiajie Scenic Area located in the northwest section of Wulingyuan is worth a visit.
Like they say “A picture is worth a thousand words”, you’ll be amazed by the slide show as presented by pps creator Dan Calistrat or view on YouTube the airflights through the Heaven’s Gate.
UPDATE & LATEST NEWS
This is China’s newest tourist spot with a glass-bottomed walkway around the cliff face of the Tianmenshan – a feature similar to the Skyway of the Grand Canyon in US. However, this is of greater distance 200 ft long & stands at 4,700 ft. above sea-level.
To walk on it is to test your nerves, to see whether your heart can stand the dazzling height!
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