Zhang Tongsheng: Chairman of Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain Tourism Co., Ltd.
Zhang Tongsheng, male, Han ethnicity, 56 years old, junior college education, member of the Communist Party of China, chairman and engineer of Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain Tourism Co., Ltd. In January 1999, he registered and established Hunan Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain Tourism Co., Ltd. Total investment has now reached 560 million yuan. He built the world's longest high-altitude sightseeing cableway, with a total length of 7,455 meters and a height difference of 1,279 meters, and completed a winding mountain road with 99 bends, forming the magnificent spectacle of a "winding road to heaven"
Zhang Tongsheng, male, Han ethnicity, 56 years old, junior college graduate, member of the Communist Party of China, chairman of Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain Tourism Co., Ltd., engineer.
In January 1999, Hunan Zhangjiajie Tianmen Mountain Tourism Co., Ltd. was registered and established. The total investment has now reached 560 million yuan. A 7,455-meter-long aerial sightseeing cableway with a height difference of 1,279 meters, the longest in the world, was built, and a winding mountain road with 99 bends was completed, forming the magnificent wonder of a “winding road to heaven” and becoming one of the miracles in the history of China's road construction. The entire road follows the mountain terrain, with only 2 mountain tunnels, avoiding damage to the mountain body as much as possible and creating a remarkable effect that caused a sensation across the country, influenced Asia, and even caught up with and surpassed the world. In 2005, the Tianmen Mountain cableway was put into operation and officially began receiving domestic and overseas tourists; in 2006, Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park achieved sales revenue of more than 60 million yuan; in 2007, it achieved sales revenue of 96 million yuan.
Zhang Tongsheng is chairman and general manager of Tianjin Ningfa Group Co., Ltd. He was rated as a municipal-level outstanding Communist Party member of Tianjin for many consecutive years; in 1992 he was rated as a municipal-level model worker; in 1994 and 1996 he was rated as a municipal-level special-class model worker for two consecutive terms; from 1992 to 1999 he was continuously rated as a municipal-level advanced individual in the Ninth Five-Year Plan merit campaign; in 1994 he was rated as a national outstanding farmer entrepreneur; in 2000 he was rated as a national model worker; in 2003 he was selected as one of the 100 people with outstanding contributions to China's real estate industry. In 2008 he was rated as one of the seven major contributors to Zhangjiajie's march toward the world. He is a deputy to the 10th, 12th, and 14th Tianjin Municipal People's Congress and deputy director of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Xiqing District, Tianjin. With extraordinary wisdom and boldness, Zhang Tongsheng has led the enterprise to reach a new level every year and make a new leap each year, starting from a small village-run chemical plant and developing into today's large enterprise group with strong strength. At present, the total assets of Ningfa Group and its affiliated enterprises are nearly 6 billion yuan, and it has entered many different fields such as real estate, tourism, energy, finance, pharmaceuticals, securities, and insurance.
As an outstanding entrepreneur, Mr. Zhang Tongsheng has several very prominent characteristics: first, he has a unique eye and a brilliant strategic vision for enterprise development and investment decisions; second, he is extremely bold and courageous, ahead of his time, and acts on a grand scale with great boldness; third, he is indomitable, unafraid of difficulties, and never gives up despite repeated setbacks. All of these personal characteristics of his were fully demonstrated in the course of the construction and development of Tianmen Mountain.
Tianmen Mountain was launched for development by local enterprises as early as 1997, but over many years only some simple tourist paths were built. Although the feat of an aircraft flying through Tianmen in 1999 made Tianmen Cave widely known, because Tianmen Mountain is high, steep, and precipitous, and had no infrastructure at all, the funds required for construction and development were enormous, so the development of Tianmen Mountain made no obvious progress for a long time. In 2001, Zhang Tongsheng was invited to inspect Tianmen Mountain and was deeply moved by its beauty and wonder. Although he clearly judged the enormous difficulty of developing Tianmen Mountain, he still quickly made the decision to invest in Zhangjiajie and develop Tianmen Mountain, and was determined to build Tianmen Mountain into a world-class tourist attraction. During this period, many people inside and outside the group were skeptical or even opposed to this decision, believing that the project required huge investment and would yield slow returns, and that the construction difficulty was unimaginable. Many people also kindly suggested that Tianjin was developing vigorously and that there were many good investment opportunities, advising him that it was unnecessary to invest in a strange place in a tourism project in which he did not have rich experience. But Zhang Tongsheng overrode all objections, firmly believing that his vision and judgment were not wrong, and firmly believing that the extremely excellent resource quality of Tianmen Mountain and the enormous development potential of Zhangjiajie would surely make this project a great success. In 2002, Tianjin Ningfa Group fully injected capital and took controlling interest in Tianmen Mountain Tourism Co., Ltd., and the high-standard, large-scale development and construction of Tianmen Mountain began in full, opening a new page in the history of Tianmen Mountain.
In January 2003, the 7,455-meter-long Tianmen Mountain high-mountain sightseeing cableway, with a height difference of 1,279 meters, broke ground; the various construction projects in the scenic area began to be launched in full, and major projects such as the magnificent winding mountain road and the grand Tianmen Mountain Temple all accelerated their construction progress. The scenic area's various landscape facilities and service facilities were systematically designed and strictly constructed in accordance with the principles of high quality and high standards. However, because Tianmen Mountain's topography and landforms are extremely steep, the construction difficulty of each project still exceeded imagination, the degree of hardship was hard to describe, and various difficulties emerged one after another. Before the cableway was completed, Zhang Tongsheng, then in his fifties, took the lead, disregarding danger and his physical condition, and climbed to the top of the incomparably steep and perilous Tianmen Mountain more than 20 times to study construction plans on site and urge progress. Over several years, Zhang Tongsheng traveled on foot to every corner of Tianmen Mountain, and his sweat was shed on every inch of its land. Objective conditions caused Tianmen Mountain's investment budget to keep increasing, and the construction process was also extremely difficult, but Zhang Tongsheng did not waver at all, and his unyielding spirit greatly inspired all employees, making everyone's confidence firmer and their drive and fighting spirit even stronger. The large-scale, high-standard development and construction made Tianmen Mountain's development a project in the "Rise of Central China" plan and a key project in the "Great Development of Western Hunan," and also made it one of Hunan Province's largest tourism foreign-investment projects and one of Zhangjiajie City's largest tourism development projects.
The Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area development projects mainly include: the world's longest single-line circulating high-mountain passenger cableway——the Tianmen Mountain Cableway, the winding mountain road known as the "Number One Wonder Highway Under Heaven"——the Tongtian Avenue, the restoration of the Buddhist center of Western Hunan——Tianmen Mountain Temple, and also the construction and development of more than 50 scenic spots including Tianmen Cave, Baihe, Yuhu Peak, Guigu Cave Viewing, Yunmeng Immortal Summit, and Yefu Treasure Hiding. The scenic area invested huge sums to complete supporting projects such as water supply, power supply, water purification, sewage treatment, garbage treatment, and fiber-optic networks for Tianmen Mountain; it also built nearly 15 kilometers of walking trails, dozens of viewing platforms, tourist rest areas, and sheltered corridors, with complete dining and commercial service facilities; at the same time, it also put dozens of sightseeing vehicles into operation; and it realized unified overall operation and management of food, lodging, transportation, sightseeing, shopping, and entertainment in the scenic area. Up to now, completed investment has reached RMB 595 million, of which investment in the Tianmen Mountain Cableway reached RMB 243 million, investment in the winding mountain road was nearly RMB 100 million, investment in Tianmen Mountain Temple was nearly RMB 80 million, investment in water and power supply projects was nearly RMB 30 million, and investment in other landscape facilities and service facilities exceeded RMB 100 million. In May 2005, the 10.77-kilometer Tianmen Mountain winding mountain road was completed in full, and the Tianmen Cave route opened for trial operation to tourists; in September, the Tianmen Mountain Cableway was completed and opened to traffic, and Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area officially opened and began operation. In 2007, the scenic area's various facilities were further upgraded and improved, adding some more distinctive projects and transportation facilities and expanding the scenic area's environmental capacity, laying the foundation for the scenic area's further development. At the same time, construction began on the mountaintop forest sightseeing cable car, the main peak viewing pavilion, and distinctive sightseeing plank roads, and the construction of Tianmen Mountain Temple also accelerated. In April 2008, the mountaintop forest sightseeing cable car was completed and opened to traffic; in May, Tianmen Mountain Temple was completed and entered the stage of preparations for opening; in June, the distinctive tour route Guigu Plank Road was completed. Tianmen Mountain's landscape content and tourist experience projects became even richer and more complete. At the same time, Tianmen Mountain established and launched a large-scale outdoor live landscape performance project, with a planned investment of more than RMB 70 million, which will create a world-class live landscape cultural performance project and will also become Zhangjiajie's most important cultural tourism product.
The achievements of Tianmen Mountain's construction and development not only enriched the content of Zhangjiajie's landscape tourism brand, but also added a tourism product combining landscape and culture for Zhangjiajie, improving Zhangjiajie's tourism product structure. With the rapid increase in the scenic area's visibility and the continuous strengthening of tourists' praise, Tianmen Mountain's visitor flow has grown rapidly, and it has become a new highlight of Zhangjiajie's tourism development and a new ace in its tourism resources. In 2006, more than 30 media outlets including NetEase and World Travel Report jointly selected the "50 Places in China Most Worth Visiting for Foreigners," and Tianmen Mountain was awarded the gold prize alongside China's top tourism brands such as the Great Wall, the Terracotta Army, Huangshan, Mount Tai, and Dunhuang. In the same year, in CCTV's nationwide selection of the best tourism routes for "Perfect Vacation," Tianmen Mountain was elected by a high vote as the best landscape tourism route. This year, Tianmen Mountain has already applied to the National Tourism Administration for a national 5A tourist attraction and has passed the preliminary review and acceptance by the provincial tourism bureau.
Tianmen Mountain, which has just unveiled its mysterious veil to the world, achieved remarkable results right from the start of its operation. Since opening, its visitor numbers have grown rapidly, and by 2007 it had cumulatively received over one million tourists, with that year's operating revenue approaching 100 million yuan. At present, Tianmen Mountain is gradually becoming one of the core tourist attractions of Zhangjiajie and is also becoming a representative product of Hunan's tourism resources. Most importantly, the development and growth of Tianmen Mountain will greatly drive the enrichment and upgrading of Zhangjiajie's cultural tourism products and leisure vacation tourism products. It has also greatly promoted the development of the tourism industry economy in Zhangjiajie's urban area and will play an important role in advancing Zhangjiajie's rapid development into a world-class tourist destination.
We believe that Chairman Zhang Tongsheng will lead all employees of Tianmen Mountain to continuously create brilliant achievements and write wonderful legends, and will continue to make greater contributions to the development of Zhangjiajie and the advancement of Hunan's tourism industry.
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