More than three thousand slab-sided high peaks stand straight as if the earth is furious with his hair up. The distinct natural scenery of Wulingyuan Scenic Area is really amazing. In 1992, this scenic zone was listed as one of the World Natural Heritage.
The Wulingyuan Scenic Area is located in the remote mountain area of northwestern Hunan Province. It is a 'forest area' made up of rock peaks. In Wulingyuan Scenic Area, there are thousands of stone peaks, among which short ones are only ten meters tall while high ones can reach three to four hundred meters. All the peaks have straight figures which just look like many liney and long stone pillars.
Almost each side of the stone peaks is cliffs and precipices, on which the green plants grow from the aperture, only to make use of every bit of space. All kind of strange shapes of the peaks can be found here. Some stand separate and straight with the top pointing to the sky; some stand next to each other as if they are competing to see who is the highest of all; some others are connected each other at the base but there is an aperture on the upper part which separates one peak into two. It appears that the rock had been hacked by a sharp edge.
Some of the stone peaks are very close to each other. Usually there is only a narrow valley between two peaks. When walking among them, you will feel as if the lofty cliffs were about to collapse. Some of the peaks are far from each other and between those peaks; there are some valleys, streams, lakes and waterfalls where rare plants stand silently and many cute animals play around.
The climate in Wulingyuan Scenic Area is humid. The peaks are always pervaded by white cloud and thick mist. You can always see high stone peaks flickering inside the mist. Seen from high place, there are numerous caesious stone pillars protruding from below the sea of clouds. Being at different height, the peaks look very much like plants competing for the sunlight and endeavor to grow tall.
The outline of the stone peaks of Wulingyuan is hard since the dark rocks all have edges and corners. This kind of hill feature is because of the solid and firm rock, the quartz sandstone. Wulingyuan has a layer of quartz sandstone which is over 500 meters thick. This like of rock bedding is not easy to be broken down. However, it can produce vertical cracks in the state of nature.
The natural forces like wind, frost, rain and snow always have their method to deal with this kind of 'hard bone'. They start with the aperture by deepening and widening the aperture. As the time goes by, the rock bedding is gradually hewed into stone pillars. Even so, the 'strong-minded' quartz sandstone still does not surrender, or they would rather die that summit. Some of them collapse while some others stand straight proudly. Thus through the long geological age, here forms the marvelous scene-tens of thousands of peaks striving for the highest.
Entrance Fee (the ticket is valid for three days):
CNY 248 for adults;
CNY 168 for kids between 1.2 and 1.5 m;
free for kids under 1.2 m
Transportation: Visitors in Zhangjiajie City can go to Zhangjiajie Long-distance Bus Station on Renmin Road, and take the buses to Wulingyuan; the bus departs every 10 minutes from 05:30. It takes about 45 minutes to Wulingyuan, and costs CNY 10.
Other Famous Zhangjiajie Attraction: Phoenix Town
