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Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area is located in the northwest of Hunan Province in central China. It combines the honors of World Natural Heritage, World Geopark, National 5A-level Scenic Area, and Zhangjiajie landform, and is composed of Zhangjiajie Forest Park in Zhangjiajie City, Suoxiyu Nature Reserve in Cili County, and Tianzi Mountain Nature Reserve in Sangzhi County, with a total area of about 500 square kilometers. Recently, the new Yangjiajie Scenic Area was discovered. Since the establishment of the district in 1989, Wulingyuan District has consistently taken the tourism economy as its center and vigorously strengthened infrastructure construction. More than 300 scenic spots have now been opened, and 11 high-standard tour routes totaling more than 100 kilometers have been built. Program-controlled and microwave communications can directly dial anywhere in the world at any time. Tourist accommodation beds have reached more than 30,000, with more than 30 star-rated hotels. Two first-class domestic cableways, Tianzi Mountain and Huangshizhai, and the Shuiraosimen sightseeing elevator, which set a Guinness World Record, have been completed. Scenic area management is becoming increasingly standardized, comprehensive governance has achieved remarkable results, social order is good, and the scenic area is safe, hygienic, civilized, and orderly. Hundreds of millions of years ago, Wulingyuan was a vast ocean. Nature ceaselessly transported and carved it, transforming it into today's Wulingyuan landform of sandstone peak forest canyons. Here, rare flowers and grasses are everywhere, and green pines and cypresses block out the sun; grotesque peaks and strange rocks tower abruptly; streams wind around cloud-filled valleys, and mist rises from sheer cliffs. Wulingyuan's natural value and strong primeval wildness conquer people. Wulingyuan is famous worldwide for its "five wonders": strange peaks, grotesque rocks, secluded valleys, beautiful waters, and karst caves.
Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area is a landscape attraction newly discovered in the early 1980s. The scenery here has not undergone any artificial carving. Everywhere are stone pillars and peaks, cliffs and precipices, ancient and famous trees, clouds and mist, flowing springs and flying waterfalls, and rare birds and animals. Standing within it is like entering a magical world and a naturally delightful artistic corridor of mountains and waters. In an area of more than 360 square kilometers, aerial surveys show that there are more than 3,000 peaks, and more than 1,000 stone peaks rise vertically more than 400 meters. The peaks and rocks here differ from those elsewhere: they stand upright and dense. Those abruptly striking rock walls and peak stones are like silk, like bamboo shoots, like screens, like soft forms, one after another, one after another, stretching for vast distances, giving people the majestic momentum and grand spectacle of layer upon layer of ridges and peaks. Tianzi Mountain and Zhangjiajie have more than 80 viewing platforms where one can quietly observe and appreciate the details. There are many names for the peaks and rocks, from large ones such as "Shentang Bay" and "West Sea Long Scroll" to small ones such as "Heavenly Maiden Offering Flowers," "Qu Yuan Chanting," and "Arhat Peak," all equally inspiring boundless imagination.
Wulingyuan's unique quartz sandstone peak forest is rare both domestically and internationally. Within an area of more than 360 square kilometers, more than 3,000 peaks are currently known. These abrupt rock walls and peak stones stretch for vast distances in layer upon layer of ridges and peaks. Whenever rain clears or during continuous overcast and rainy weather, cloud and mist arise from the deep valleys. The clouds and mist drift among the layered ridges and peaks; the sea of clouds is sometimes thick and sometimes thin, and the stone peaks appear and disappear, creating ever-changing scenes. Fog makes the hard mountain peaks under clear skies become enchanting, elegant, and mysterious. The best season to view fog is summer, and Tianzi Mountain is the best place to enjoy the fog, as well as a place photographers often visit.
Wulingyuan's waters wind around its mountains. It is said that Zhangjiajie alone has "eight hundred beautiful waters," with numerous waterfalls, springs, streams, pools, and lakes each presenting their own wonders. Golden Whip Stream is a stream more than ten kilometers long. From Zhangjiajie, one can follow the stream all the way to Suoxiyu. Canyons face each other on both banks, and mountains and waters are reflected in the stream, offering a distinctive flavor. Water makes the mountain forests more lively. Golden Whip Stream is a long stream, more than ten kilometers long. From Zhangjiajie, one can follow it all the way to Suoxiyu. It flows gently past Zhicao Pool, Tiaoyu Pool, Nanmuping, and Tianzizhou, and finally empties into the Lishui River from Suoxiyu. Canyons face each other on both banks, with red cliffs and green trees reflected in the stream. Walking on the small path by the stream, a coolness refreshes the heart and mind all the way. Stepping over wooden bridges and stone steps, watching spotted fish play in the pools, and listening to the calls of cuckoos echoing through the valleys.
Wulingyuan has many karst caves, large in scale and highly distinctive. Among the named ones are Huanglong Cave, Guanyin Cave, Xiangshui Cave, Guixi Cave, Feiyun Cave, and Jinluo Cave. The most famous is "Huanglong Cave" in Suoxiyu. Huanglong Cave is 7.5 kilometers long in total. The cave is divided into four levels. Inside the cave there is one reservoir, two rivers, three waterfalls, four pools, thirteen halls, and ninety-six corridors. "Ice Ling Bell Sound," "Green Bamboo Lining the Path," and "Dragon Palace Dance" are all highlights of Huanglong Cave. The landscapes are extraordinary and it is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Wulingyuan.
Wulingyuan has a mild and rainy climate, with no severe heat or cold, and an average annual temperature of around 15 degrees. This microclimate provides a good habitat for animals and plants. Complementing the natural scenery is the simple pastoral landscape. Wulingyuan is a settlement area for ethnic minorities such as the Tujia, Bai, and Miao. Terraced fields and houses are dotted among the green mountains and waters, surrounded by green trees, with cooking smoke curling upward. If one is fortunate enough to encounter a local festival, one can also enjoy ethnic songs and dances. Together with Wulingyuan's great mountains and dense forests, they form a primitive and vast picture.
In the regional tectonic system, Wulingyuan is located in the third uplift belt of the Neocathaysian. Over the long geological history, it roughly experienced the Wuling-Xuefeng, Indosinian, Yanshan, Himalayan, and Neotectonic movements. The Wuling-Xuefeng movement laid the basement structure of this area. The Indosinian movement shaped the basic tectonic geomorphic framework of this area, while the Himalayan and Neotectonic movements were among the most fundamental internal factors forming Wulingyuan's peculiar quartz sandstone peak forest landform landscape.
The strata constituting the sandstone peak forest landform are mainly composed of the Middle and Upper Devonian Yuntaiguan Formation and Huangjiadun Formation of the Paleozoic, and the strata show the characteristics of littoral facies clastic rocks. The rock is pure in quality, thick in layers, gently bottomed, and vertically jointed, exposed along the syncline outline, reflecting the special geological structural environment and basic conditions for the formation of the sandstone peak forest landform landscape. External geological activities such as water erosion and gravitational collapse, as well as biological biochemical effects and physical weathering, are indispensable external conditions for shaping Wulingyuan's landform landscape. Therefore, its formation is the result of long-term interaction between internal and external geological forces in a specific geological environment.
Quartz sandstone peak forest landform: Wulingyuan has a total of 3,103 stone peaks. The peak bodies are distributed at elevations of 500 to 1,100 meters, with heights ranging from several dozen meters to 400 meters. The peak forest forms are perfect and flawless, resembling people, gods, immortals, birds, beasts, and objects, with endless variation. The characteristics of Wulingyuan's quartz sandstone peak forest landform are: pure quality and thick stone, with quartz content of 75% to 95%, and rock layers more than 520 meters thick. It has an interbedded layered formation structure, namely thick layers of quartz sandstone intercalated with thin and extremely thin layers of mica siltstone or shale. This formation structure is conducive to natural sculptural modeling and enhances the sense of image. The rock layers are exposed along the syncline outline with gentle occurrence (5 to 8 degrees, locally up to 20 degrees), which increases the stability of the rock and provides the prerequisite for the peak forest to rise from the ground. The rock layers have well-developed vertical joints showing equidistant characteristics, generally 15 to 20 meters apart, providing conditions for shaping the varied peak forest landform forms and deep secluded canyons.
Based on the above factors, together with intermittent uplift and tilting from regional neotectonic movement, water erosion and cutting, gravity, physical weathering, biochemical effects, root wedging, and various other external agents, the mountain body formed peak forests through a complex natural evolution process, displaying characteristics such as towering height, flat tops, and steep walls.
