We probably wished we could take a ride on the hovering mountains of Pandora when we watched the movie Avatar. The exciting thing is that now we can actually visit the Hallelujah Mountain, better said the earthly version of it, in China.
VIDEO – Avatar: hovering mountains
When watching the movie, Chinese have an eerie feeling of seeing one of their natural wonders, the pillars of Wulingyuan landscape in Hunan. According to their opinion, this area inspired the landscape created in the movie. The inhabitants of Wulingyuan didn’t think twice before changing the name of Zhangjiajie Mountains into Avatar Hallelujah- Mountains; also, they started advertising tourist trips entitled ‘Magical Trips to Pandora’.
The Zhangjiajie Mountains of Wulingyuan:
The resemblance is truly impressive, especially in the photos taken when the mountains are in a fog. Jowever, James Cameron denied that the movie world would have been inspired by the pillars of Wulingyuan National Park. He claims that his creation was influenced by another Chinese mountain, the Huangshan situated in Anhui. What do you think?
The Huangshan of Anhui:
The Huangshan Mountains
The mountains spread over a 1200 square km area, and their 77 peaks rise over 1140 meters. The talles peak is Lianhua Feng, or the Lotus Peak, rising to 1864 meters. The huge granite masses rose up during the Mesozoic, after the Jangce Sea retreated into its current basin.
Over one half of the mountains’ surface is covered by coniferous forests, and its vegetation is absolutely unique (just like the one of Pandora). Because of the high moisture content, the flora grows in an amazing abundance. Most of the year, the whole area is covered in a thick layer of clouds. The peaks rise over the layer of clouds like so many islands; this is the very sight that, as now is known, inspired James Cameron.