Overview of Zhangjiajie City
Overview of Zhangjiajie City. Zhangjiajie is located in the northwest of Hunan Province, in the heart of the Wuling Mountains. It was approved as a prefecture-level city by the State Council in May 1988, originally named Dayong City, and renamed Zhangjiajie City in April 1994. It administers Yongding and Wulingyuan Districts and Cili and Sangzhi Counties, with a total area of 9,516 square kilometers and a population of 1.65 million, predominantly Tujia...
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Brief Introduction to Zhangjiajie City
Zhangjiajie City is located in the northwest of Hunan Province, in the hinterland of the Wuling Mountains. In May 1988, it was approved by the State Council to be established as a prefecture-level city, originally named Dayong City. In April 1994, it was renamed Zhangjiajie City. It administers the two districts of Yongding and Wulingyuan and the two counties of Cili and Sangzhi, with a total area of 9,516 square kilometers and a current population of 1.65 million, of which ethnic minorities, mainly Tujia, Bai, and Miao, account for 77.19%.
Zhangjiajie is famous for its magical and beautiful geological landforms and is a world-renowned tourist destination city. The city currently has 14 nationally rated tourist areas, including one 5A-level and nine 4A-level. The Wulingyuan Scenic Area is world-famous for the rare "Zhangjiajie landform." The "Zhangjiajie landform," notably characterized by quartz sandstone peak-forest canyon landforms, is hailed as an "incredible monument of the Earth." Because it "covers almost all the content of geology and its ecological environment," it was inscribed in 1992 on China's first batch of World Natural Heritage sites. Zhangjiajie National Forest Park within its territory is China's first national forest park. Zhangjiajie's Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area features karst high-mountain platform landforms, rising abruptly from more than 200 meters above sea level to more than 1,500 meters, with steep and majestic mountain forms that are breathtaking, and is hailed as the "soul of the Wuling Mountains." The Zhangjiajie geological wonders formed jointly by the Zhangjiajie landform and the karst high-mountain platform landform, as well as the ecosystem formed by this special geological landform, possess extremely high aesthetic, scientific, and ecological value. In 2005, it was inscribed among the world's first batch of geological parks. Zhangjiajie National Geopark consists of the Wulingyuan sandstone peak-forest area, the Tianmen Mountain karst platform area, the Maoyan River Jiutian Cave karst canyon and cave area, and the Sangzhi County Furong Dragon fossil protection area, with a total area of 3,600 square kilometers. Its core part is the famous Zhangjiajie Scenic Area, with an area of 573 square kilometers. This is the foundation for the development of Zhangjiajie's tourism industry and also the foundation for Zhangjiajie to become an international tourist destination.
Zhangjiajie is a green homeland. Zhangjiajie City has a mid-subtropical mountain-type monsoon humid climate, with four distinct seasons, cool springs and summers, and warm autumns and winters. The average temperature is 16.4-16.8°C, the annual frost-free period has historically been 245-268 days, winter snowfall lasts 15 days, the average annual sunshine is 1,450 hours, annual rainfall is 1,400-1,600 millimeters, and foggy days average about 50 days per year. The warm and humid weather has nurtured dense vegetation resources. It has six forest parks with a total area of 171 square kilometers, including four national forest parks alone: Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park, Fengluanxi National Forest Park, and Tianquanshan National Forest Park. It has eight nature reserves of various types (Badagongshan, Giant Salamander, Tianzi Mountain, Suoxiyu Nature Reserve, etc.) and 27 protection communities, with a total area of 1,182.7 square kilometers, among which the Badagongshan Nature Reserve and the Zhangjiajie Giant Salamander Nature Reserve are national-level nature reserves. It has 1,409 species of woody plants in 110 families and more than 109 species of vertebrates. Rare animals and plants under national first- and second-class protection alone number as many as 81 species. The plant species in Wulingyuan alone, in Zhangjiajie's core scenic area, are equivalent to 150% of those of all Europe. The city's forest coverage rate reaches 69.6%, surface water quality all meets Class II standards or above, drinking water source quality all meets standards, and the air quality excellence rate in the urban area is 93.7%, making it the city with the highest forest coverage rate in the country and the city with the lowest energy consumption per unit area of residential buildings. Wulingyuan's forest coverage rate is as high as 98%, air quality is excellent year-round, and each cubic centimeter of air is rich in 100,000 negative oxygen ions. Zhangjiajie is known as a "natural oxygen bar."
Zhangjiajie is richly endowed by nature. It contains more than 60 kinds of minerals such as coal, natural gas, iron ore, and nickel-molybdenum, of which 35 have proven reserves; its hydropower resource reserves are nearly 2 million kilowatts, making it one of the country's important hydropower production bases; it is rich in products, abundantly producing famous and high-quality specialties such as ponkan, Xiangxi yellow cattle, Maoyan berry tea, chrysanthemum-core pomelo, golden fragrant pomelo, and high-mountain cloud-mist tea, as well as cultural artworks such as sandstone paintings and Tujia embroidery.
Zhangjiajie is an area where ethnic minorities live in concentrated communities. The Tujia number more than one million, equivalent to one-sixth of the country's Tujia population, and the Bai number more than 100,000, making it the second largest homeland of the Bai people. Zhangjiajie has a long history. As early as 202 BC in the Western Han period, a county seat was established here, more than 2,200 years ago. Some believe that Zhang Liang's tomb is at Qingyan Mountain in present-day Zhangjiajie, Hunan. The local landscape is wonderfully beautiful and the forests are quiet and secluded, making it a famous scenic area. According to the Records of Immortals and Buddhists: "Zhang Liang is said to have roamed with Master Red Pine. There is a tomb at Qingyan Mountain, appearing and disappearing from time to time." The Records of Tombs also states: "The tomb of Zhang Liang, Marquis of Liu of the Han, is at Qingyan Mountain. After Liang obtained the book from Lord Yellow Stone, he roamed with Master Red Pine. In the county, at Tianmen and Qingyan mountains, many traces remain. Checking against historical facts, Zhang Liang indeed, at the beginning of his enfeoffment as marquis, expressed to Liu Bang his wish to 'abandon worldly affairs and follow Master Red Pine.' Combining the above records, it is not impossible that in his later years he went to the beautiful Qingyan Mountain, lived in seclusion and studied Daoism, and after death was buried there. For a long time, many ethnic groups have lived, multiplied, and flourished together here in harmony, creating a rich ethnic culture. The local folk customs are simple and the local flavor is strong. There are 17 major categories and more than 730 items of intangible cultural heritage of various types, among which Sangzhi folk songs, Dayong Yang opera, and Sangzhi drum dance have been included in the national intangible cultural heritage. A number of cultural achievements formed by the integration and development of traditional ethnic culture and modern fashionable elements—such as the large-scale real-scene landscape musical "Tianmen Fox Fairy: New Liu Hai Cuts Firewood," the large-scale stage ethnic song and dance "Charming Xiangxi," the large-scale real-scene stage drama Tujia epic "Tima Shen Ge," and the world ethnic rural music gathering "International Country Music Festival"—have high artistic appeal and have become a grand tourism cultural feast for Chinese and foreign tourists, causing widespread influence at home and abroad.
Zhangjiajie is a red land. It is the birthplace and central area of the Hunan-Hubei-Western and Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou revolutionary base areas. Older-generation proletarian revolutionaries such as He Long, Ren Bishi, Wang Zhen, Guan Xiangying, and Xiao Ke once led armed struggle here for eight years. The Second Front Army of the Red Army set out from Liujiaping in Sangzhi County to begin the long march. In the whole city, 47,000 people joined the Red Army, including 18,000 martyrs, and every mountain and river bears red footprints. At present, a number of cultural relics are preserved, including the former site of the Provincial Party Committee, Provincial Revolutionary Committee, and Provincial Military District of the Chinese Soviet Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Province and the former site of the headquarters of the Second and Sixth Army Corps of the Second Front Army of the Red Army.
Zhangjiajie is a place of outstanding people and land. As early as 200,000 years ago, humans lived here, creating a splendid ancient civilization and leaving behind many ancient cultural legends and numerous cultural sites. To date, 42 first-class national cultural relics, 148 second-class cultural relics, and 1,230 third-class cultural relics have been unearthed. In 202 BC, the Han Dynasty established a county seat here, 2,211 years ago. Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and the ancient Hundred Schools of Thought coexisted harmoniously here, forming religious cultures of various styles. On this land, a number of outstanding figures of the times have emerged one after another, including Liu Mingdeng and Sun Kaihua, famous generals of the late Qing who guarded Taiwan and resisted foreign invaders; He Long, proletarian revolutionary, military strategist, and marshal of New China; Liao Hansheng, Yuan Renyuan, and Fan Ziyu, proletarian revolutionaries and senior generals of the People's Liberation Army; Du Xinwu, the great knight of north and south; Tian Qijuan, geologist; and Chen Nengkuan, a founding hero of the "Two Bombs, One Satellite." Within its territory there are currently two national key cultural relics protection units, the Former Residence of He Long and the Former Site of the Provincial Party Committee of the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou Revolutionary Base Area, and as many as 24 provincial-level key cultural relics protection units.
Zhangjiajie has convenient transportation. It has a three-dimensional transportation network composed of aviation, railways, and expressways. The Zhijiang-Liuzhou and Shimen-Changsha railways meet here, and tourist trains can reach more than 50 major and medium-sized domestic cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport is an international air port, having successively opened more than 50 domestic routes to major cities and 14 international destinations such as South Korea and Japan. During the Twelfth Five-Year Plan, its annual passenger throughput will reach a capacity of 5 million person-times and 20,000 tons of cargo and mail. The Changsha-Zhangjiajie Expressway has integrated Zhangjiajie into the Changsha 3-hour economic circle, and the under-construction Zhangjiajie-Huayan Expressway can shorten the drive from Zhangjiajie to Chongqing to 5 hours. Projects such as the Qianjiang-Zhangjiajie-Changde and Ankang-Zhangjiajie-Hengyang railways and the Cili-Nanxian and Longshan-Zhangjiajie-Guilin expressways have been included in national or provincial "Twelfth Five-Year" construction plans. Zhangjiajie is expected to become the transportation hub of the Wuling Mountain area in the not-too-distant future.
Since the establishment of the city, Zhangjiajie, relying on its uniquely endowed tourism resources, has vigorously implemented the strategy of opening up and development and tourism-driven growth. It has successively won many honors, including China's first national forest park, national key scenic and historic area, China's first batch of World Natural Heritage sites, China Excellent Tourism City, National Civilized Scenic Area, the world's first batch of geological parks, the country's first batch of 5A scenic areas, one of the World's Top 200 Cities with Special Charm, and one of China's Most Influential Cities Overseas. In 2010, the city's scenic spots received 24.05 million tourist visits, with overnight visitors exceeding 10 million person-times, including 1.49 million overseas tourists, and total tourism revenue reached 12.5 billion yuan, respectively 42.6 times, 88.3 times, and 503.1 times those of 1989. The scale of its tourism industry ranks among the top of similar domestic cities. Driven by tourism, the city's gross domestic product grew at an average annual rate of 10.5%, and total fiscal revenue grew at an average annual rate of 18.6%, reaching 24.248 billion yuan and 2.115 billion yuan respectively in 2010; the per capita disposable income of urban residents grew at an average annual rate of 12.6%, and the per capita net income of farmers grew at an average annual rate of 10.4%, reaching 12,705 yuan and 3,668 yuan respectively in 2010. In just over 20 years, Zhangjiajie has basically achieved the goal proposed by Comrade Jiang Zemin of "building Zhangjiajie into a world-renowned tourist resort," completing the leap from a city with abundant tourism resources to a city with a large tourism industry. Now, Zhangjiajie has embarked on a new journey of building a world-class tourism masterpiece. Riding the east wind of building a national pilot city for comprehensive tourism reform, it is accelerating the construction of a tourist city and the transformation of its tourism industry, advancing the new leap from a city with a large tourism industry to a city with a strong tourism economy, and moving forward toward the goal of building an international tourist destination city that is "fully functional, conveniently connected, industrially developed, economically prosperous, with well-off people, open and inclusive, civilized and harmonious, with an excellent ecological environment and a unique cultural temperament, green and low-carbon, and livable and visitable."