Zhangjiajie 张家界

1

China's first national forest park (established 1982), UNESCO World Natural Heritage (1992) and Global Geopark

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Core filming location of Avatar: Qiankun Pillar (Hallelujah Mountain) / First Bridge Under Heaven (natural stone bridge) / Mihun Platform (peak-forest viewing terrace) / Back Garden

3

"King of the peak forests" (Imperial Brush Peak / Fairy Scattering Flowers / Helong Park bronze statue), best spots for sunrise and sea of clouds (Daguantai, Laowuchang)

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Wulong Village (bandit stronghold with a narrow "One-Line-Sky" pass) / Tianbofu (viewing platform overlooking the peak walls), "peak-wall wonder" (Yangjiajie's newly discovered peak-wall landform)

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7.5 km gorge stream trail (Golden Whip Rock / Eagle Guarding the Whip / Qianli Xianghui / Shuirao Simen), one of the "world's most beautiful gorges" (legend of Zhang Liang's seclusion), macaque troops

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5.8 km gorge sightseeing route (Longevity Star Welcoming Guests / Herb-Gathering Old Man / Three Sisters Peaks), sightseeing mini-train available

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"If you don't visit Huangshi Village, your Zhangjiajie trip is in vain" (Liuqi Pavilion viewing tower / Star-Plucking Platform), 360° panorama of the peak forest

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Tianmen Cave (131.5m high, the world's tallest natural cave piercing through a mountain; 999-step Stairway to Heaven), the 99-bend "Tongtian Avenue" (Avenue to Heaven) winding mountain road (10 km, 99 bends), glass skywalk (60m suspended section on the West Line) + Guigu Plank Road + Sky Corridor

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Yuntiandu Glass Bridge (opened in 2016; 430m span, 300m high, one of the world's longest glass bridges), canyon slide and Yixiantian (One-Line-Sky) Waterfall

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An alpine lake hailed as a "World Lake Classic" (72m waterfall + lake cruise), with Tujia folk-song antiphonal singing

11

The "Most Beautiful Tourist Cave in China" (the 19.2m "Sea-Calming Needle" stalagmite insured for CNY 100 million), Dragon Palace Hall (12,000 m²) + Xiangshui River boat ride

12

Landscape live-action drama by Mei Shuaiyuan's team (adapted from "Liu Hai the Woodcutter", 700 performers)

13

Tujia, Miao and Bai folk song-and-dance (Maogusi dance / "Chasing Love")

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Rebuilt on the site of the Tusi City (Baishou Hall / Jiuchongtian Hereditary Hall—a 48m all-timber structure), a complex of Tujia stilted houses (diaojiaolou)

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Qing-dynasty Tujia mansion ('First Residence of Western Hunan'), history of the Tian family (Tian Yingzhao, Republican-era 'King of Western Hunan')

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Whitewater rafting on the Lishui ('Hundred-Li Gallery'), Jiutian Cave (famed Asian karst cave, nine skylights)

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Daoist sacred mountain known as the 'Southern Wudang' (Zhenwu Shrine), a center of Daoism in Western Hunan

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Hometown of Marshal He Long (Hongjiaguan), where he 'started a revolution with two kitchen knives'