With its deep canyons, majestic waterfalls, and sandstone-quartz pillars towering over 650 feet high, in China's Hunan province looks straight out of a 3D science-fiction film. So it's no surprise that one of the park's rock formations -- the3,544-ft"Southern Sky Column" -- inspired the fictional world of "Pandora" in James Cameron's blockbuster film "Avatar."
The park is , a UNESCO World Heritage site, according to National Geographic, and it's also one of Hunan's most popular tourist destinations. in 2012, Zhangjiajie welcomedand had a tourism revenue of about 20.87 billion yuan(around $3.4 billion dollars), according to China Daily, all of whom flocked to see Southern Sky Column, which was renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain" in 2010.
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Zhangjiajie was with an area of 4,810 ha (11,900 acres) in 1982, according to Travel China Guide. Its most notable geographic features are the pillar-like formations such as the Avatar Hallelujah Mountain.
The pillars are the , according to China.org.cn.The weather is moist year round, and as a result, the foliage is very dense. Much of the erosion which forms these pillars are the result of expanding ice in the winter and the plants which grow on them. These formations are a distinct hallmark of Chinese landscape, and can be found in many ancient Chinese paintings.
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Located in a subtropical climate, Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is endowed with . It is home to abundant flora and fauna including civet cats, giant salamanders, satyr tragopans, dove trees, maidenhair trees, Chinese yews, and Chinese tulip trees, the official website states. Such a dense forest serves as a huge natural “oxygen bar.”
Tourism at Zhangjiajie has boomed so much that local media has reported a at Zhangjiajie's Tianmen Mountain. There are now , according to the official Zhangjiajie Tourism website.
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