Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area (Zhangjiajie)

UNESCO Natural World Heritage site in northwest Hunan — over 3,000 quartz sandstone pillars rising from subtropical forest, forming one of China's most photographed landscapes and the visual inspiration for the floating mountains in the film Avatar.

Wulingyuan was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992 for its outstanding natural scenery — more than 3,000 quartz sandstone pillars and peaks rising vertically from dense subtropical forest in northwest Hunan. The formations, carved by millions of years of erosion through fractured rock layers, vary from slender needles to broad table-topped columns, many over 200 m tall and festooned with clinging trees. The Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, established in 1982 as China's first national forest park, sits within the larger Wulingyuan protected area.

The site gained global attention when the film Avatar (2009) acknowledged that the fictional Hallelujah Mountains were visually inspired by a specific pillar formation in Wulingyuan, subsequently renamed 'Avatar Hallelujah Mountain' (南天一柱). The Tianmen Mountain cable car — the world's longest passenger cable car at 7.5 km — connects Zhangjiajie city to a glass-floored walkway clinging to a cliff face above a natural arch (Tianmen Cave), and has become one of China's most photographed experiences.

The Bailong (Hundred Dragons) Elevator rises 330 m up a sandstone cliff face in a glass-sided car and is the world's tallest outdoor lift. Glass-floored suspension bridges span between peaks throughout the area. Despite this substantial infrastructure, the forest between the pillars remains genuinely wild, with populations of macaque monkeys, pangolins and the endangered Chinese giant salamander recorded in the waterways.

The area is large (264 km²) and spread across three main scenic zones: Zhangjiajie, Suoxiyu and Tianzi Mountain, connected by cable cars, lifts and walking trails.