Travel China. Zhanjiajie. Ten Mile Gallery. Gold Whip Stream.

Informations collected from Internet and Travel websites
By SVDG
Photos by GNT

Zhangjiajie Ten-mile Natural Gallery is located in the northwestern part of Sioxigu Natural Reserve, at the foot of Tianzi Mountain. It is about 5.8 kilometers in length. With a stream flowing through, and the peaks on both sides of the valley shape, it forms natural sculptures. The Herb Collecting Old Man and Immortals Worshipping Guanyin are the most spectacular.

Ten-mile Natural Gallery has picturesque scenery, beautiful flowers and a hundred birds contend in singing. The sceneries in this scenic area have strange shapes. The quartz sandstone peaks hidden in the clouds changes a lot which look like people, God, immortal, forest, birds or beasts.

Herb Collecting Old Man: In the middle of the peaks across the stream, there is a high of about 80 meters stone peak. No matter who watched it will say it like an old man collecting herb. This old man is thin; his head is twined silk handkerchiefs and his shoulder carries a basket of herbs. This attraction is the landmark sights in Ten-mile Natural Gallery, and also is one of the ten superb view of the city Zhanjiajie.

Xiangwang Read Book: There is a stone peak which is divided into two peaks in the gorge. The left stone peak is large and the right is small, specially looking like a reader who is reading a book with keen pleasure. Local people thought it is the incarnation of the Emperor Xiangwang, hence, this attraction got its name.

Monkey Slope: At the end of the gallery, there are jagged rocks of grotesque shapes, green and luxuriant forest, and small groups of hundreds of monkeys gathering here, so called "Monkey Slope".

There are three peaks standing side by side are called the "Three Sisters". You imagine, the left is the eldest sister who is carrying a child. The middle is the younger sister who takes her baby in her arms to look forward to the safe return of her husband. The right peak humps just like a pregnant woman, this is the little young sister.

Located in the east of Zhanjiajie National Forest Park, named after the 380-meter high Golden Whip Rock, Golden Whip Stream flowing from Laomo Gully first to Confluence of Four Rivers then to Suoxi Stream, it finally joins Li river, one of the four rivers in Hunan Province. It flows between steep grotesque peaks and luxuriant trees. Here, the meandering streams, the crystal-clear waterfalls, exotic plants and rare animals co-exist and constitute the extraordinarily beautiful, tranquil and natural ecological environment.
Golden Whip Stream (Jinbian Stream) is famous for its pristine water, its verdant mountains, its steep cliffs and its serene valley.

Golden Whip Stream is a very deep and quiet winding stream where can be seen many green hills and colorful flora and the song of birds can be heard. The 7 kilometer long stream is one of the most charming features of the scenery of Zhangjiajie.

Photos by GNT.

Charm Xiangxi show in Wulingyuan. SVDG

Charm Xiangxi in Wulingyuan.

Informations retrieved from internet/travel sites
Photos by GNT

It is a large song and dance bonfire performance put on at the Charming West Hunan International Cultural Square in Zhangjiajie every evening. On the basis of maintaining the original customs and culture of West Hunan, the performance has upgraded the music of ethnic groups and perfectly combined the traditional ethnic arts and skills with the sound, light and electricity technologies for the modern stage. The performance includes the typical local folk customs, such as “wedding lament”, “corpse driving”, witchcrafts, climbing the knife mountain, crossing the fireplace, as well as the modern songs and acrobatics, fully displaying the customs and lifestyle of the ethnic minority groups in West Hunan and reflecting the original culture of West Hunan.

This is a massive daily evening show, with seats of over a thousand people. The first (and major) part of the show is indoor - several song and dance routines, showcasing different parts of the province, with some amazing acrobatics on display. Large display boards on either side of the stage give a summary in non-Chinese languages. Worth viewing for the acrobatics and costumes. The last part is an outdoor performance where Qigong feats are displayed (pretty amazing too - could be a bit overwhelming for small kids).

The show is a mix of dance and singing all from different Chinese minority groups.

From a foreigner's perspective -The whole show is in Chinese. There are two screens, one on each side of the stage. During the act, a short summary will be displayed on the screen. First in Chinese, then Korean, then English, then Thai (?). While the Chinese summary is very good, the English summary is a very poor translation.
The show give you a good summary of Xiangxi's tribe believes and cultural show.

The show performance are split into 2 sitting sections - indoor & outdoor. Indoor show last about 1 hour and performed by a group of talented performers; whereas the outdoor part of performance is quite amazing, strong and a bit overwhelming for small kids, such as the kung fu master/Qi Gong practitioner carrying tons of cement weight on his chest and adding on weight by asking a few men to step on it, etc. Since it was a rainy day, both were performed indoor.

It is a nice show. It comprises of 6-8 different scenes depicting the life and stories of the local villages in old times. In between, there is a moderator who introduces each scene.

Some of the acrobatics in the scenes is very good and 2-3 of the songs are beautiful to listen to.
Performances list:
Drum Dance

1. Fire drums dance
Miao nationality most unique dance art in China.

2. Border town
Romantic love triangle story of Miao nationality at Western Hunan border town..

3. Chasing love:
Yao nationality unique love chasing custom-by climbing wooden house.

4. Mao gusi dance
Tujia nationality sacrificial ceremony.

5. Sangzhi folk song
The sweetest folk song in the world.

6. Big carnival
Primitive simplicity, hospitable Yao nationality’s carnival.

7. Date
One of the most representative traditional ethnic festivals of tujia people.

8. Crying marriage
The unique customs of tujia people.

9. Hero back to home
Eternal mystery of Charming Western Hunan.

Outside performance:
Tujia waving dance, Tujia hard qigong, Xiangxi magic witchcrafts show.

Ticket: 320 RMB per person plus transportation cost round trip.

Zhangjiajie Tiamen Fairy Fox show.

Tiamen Fairy Fox Show

It is the first natural set music, song and dance drama with high mountains and peaks as the background and a canyon as the stage in the world. The music, song and dance is performed at the canyon which runs from the front gate of the Tianmen Mountain Scenic Zone to the top of Tianmen Mountain.

Based on Liu Hai Cuts Firewood, a play of the traditional Flower Drum Opera of Hunan province, it tells the moving love story between a fox fairy and Liu Hai, a poor but happy woodcutter, and presents various types of life pictures of West Hunan. This music, song and dance drama offers a magnificent artistic feast by taking the picturesque scenery of Tianmen Mountain as the natural set, adopting the high-class light, sound and stage machinery, using the specially designed visual effects and integration music,songs, dances, magic and acrobatics.

Known as the world’s first musical drama with the actual high mountains and deep valleys as the stage background, the Tianmen Fox Fairy Shows is performed at the foot of Tianmen Mountain, Zhangjiajie. Originated from a traditional Chinese myth and folk tale, “Love between Man and Fox,” the drama integrates the elements of folk music and modern art. As the story progresses, you will find settings everywhere from the foot of the hill to the peak, be it spotlight, stage for the chorus, background houses…everything. The visual presentation is spectacular and amazing, the music, dancing and singing is impressive.

Almost every night (with the exception of harsh winter months) the show is performed at the Grand Valley of Tianmen Mountain. Here you can listen to sweet music, admire colorful lighted scenes, and experience the strong folk custom of Tujia and Miao minorities.

Ticket: 320 RMB/person
For transportation from hotel to theater and back plus ticket , we paid 80 $USD/person (around 500 RMB/p)

Travel China. Yuanjiajie.Avatar Hallelujah Mountain. SVDG

Yuanjiajie scenic area: Avatar Hallelujah Mountain
Informations collected from Internet and Travel websites.
By Sóng Việt Đàm Giang
Photos by GNT.
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On day 02 at Zhangjiajie, we visited The Zhangjiajie scenic area of Wulingyuan which is called the Yuanjiajia Scenic Area with mountains recently called Avatar Hallelujah Mountains.

First, from city, take bus to the center with Bailong Elevator.

Yuanjiajie Scenic Area
Chinese name: 袁家界 (Yuan Jia Jie)
Location: In the north part of Zhangjiajie Forest Park in Wulingyuan District, Zhangjiajie City, Hunan Province.
Ticket: -It is included in a through ticket (CNY 248) of Zhangjiajie Forest Park.
-A single fare for Bailong Elevator is CNY 56.

The Bailong Elevator or Hundred Dragons Elevator is a glass elevator built onto the side of a huge cliff in the Yuanjiajie Scenic Area of Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area that is 335 m high (Oct 1999-2002). At the cost of 120 million yuan or $19 million, the elevator can take 48 passengers at once to the top, a journey that takes about 2 minutes.

This Bailong 335 meters high elevator is claimed to be the highest and heaviest outdoor elevator in the world. The Bailong Elevator has set three Guinness world Records - World's tallest full-exposure outdoor elevator, world's tallest double-deck sightseeing elevator and world's fastest passenger traffic elevator with biggest carrying capacity.

Thang máy Bailong ở Công viên rừng quốc gia Trương Gia Giới, Tỉnh Hồ Nam, Trung Quốc là thang máy quan sát có cao độ lên tới 326m, hành trình đi lên hay xuống vào khoảng thời gian 2 phút. Để du khách có thể vừa sử dụng thang, vừa có thể ngắm toàn cảnh hùng vĩ, vách cabin thang máy toàn bộ đuợc làm bằng kính cường lực thay vì inox như các loại thang máy thông thường.

Yuanjiajie Scenic Area. Yuanjiajie, originally known as Qingyan Mountain, is situated in the north part of the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, with a total area of about 1,200 hectares and an average elevation of 1,074 meters. According to the legend, the name of Yuanjiajie comes from the late Tang Dynasty (618 – 907). After the failure of Huang Chao’s uprising, the court put up notices to catch the rebels. A subordinate of Huang Chao, whose family name is Yuan in order to elude pursuit, he buried himself away in the Qingyan Mountain and then named there as "Yuanjiajie". Yuanjiajie covers a large geographical area, and tourists only visit a small part area of the Yuanjiajie.

Yuan JiaJie Rock

In short, Yuanjiajie Scenic Area is situated in the northwest of the National Forest Park of Zhangjiajie. It got the name after a people whose surname is Yuan in Tang Dynasty, the total area is more than 1,200 hectares.

Taking the Bailong elevator, then trekking through the Baizhang Valley. When the elevator reaches the mountain top, Fields and Gardens in the Air will come into view. The mountain trail invites you to walk around the area and enjoy vistas. Major highlights in Yuanjiajie Scenic Area includes Bailong Lift, Fields and Gardens in the Air, No.1 Natural Bridge under Heaven, Hanging Waterfall, Mihun Bridge and Tujia Village.

Avatar Hallelujah Mountain
The Southern Sky Pillar in Yuanjiajie is formerly known as "Qian Kun Column" (The Pillar between Heaven and Earth). In January 2010, it had been officially renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain" in honor of the well-known film Avatar. The mountain has a strange shape, it arises 1072 meters above sea level, over 150 meters in vertical height.
In the shape of a pillar connecting heaven and earth, this peak serves as a defining geographical landmark of Yuanjiajie Scenic Area.