Zhangjiajie Tourist Attractions
There are many, many tourist attractions in Zhangjiajie. In addition to the Wulingyuan core scenic area, Zhangjiajie also has the Badagongshan Nature Reserve in Sangzhi County, Jiutian Cave, Asia's largest cave, and Hongjiaguan, the hometown of Marshal He Long; Wulei Mountain, a Taoist holy site in Cili County, and Wanfu Hot Spring; as well as Tianmen Mountain Forest Park in Yongding District, where the city government is located, Maoyan River, which has developed rafting tourism projects, the "Famous Jiangnan Temple" Puguang Zen Temple, Yuhuang Cave Grottoes, and other natural and cultural scenic spots…
Zhangjiajie has many, many tourist attractions. In addition to the Wulingyuan core scenic area, Zhangjiajie City also has the Badagongshan Nature Reserve in Sangzhi County, Jiutian Cave, the largest cave in Asia, and Hongjiaguan, the hometown of Marshal He Long; Wulei Mountain, a Taoist holy site in Cili County, and Wanfu Hot Springs; as well as Tianmen Mountain Forest Park in Yongding District, where the city government is located, the Maoyan River, which has developed rafting tourism projects, the "Famous Temple of Jiangnan" Puguang Zen Temple, Yuhuang Cave Grottoes, and more than 300 other natural and cultural scenic spots. Zhangjiajie City is also home to ethnic minorities such as the Tujia, Bai, and Miao, who make up 69% of the city's total population. Various folk customs often fill domestic and international tourists with great interest and endless reverie. Surrounding Zhangjiajie City are also scenic spots such as Peach Blossom Spring and Mengdong River.
Introduction to Zhangjiajie Old Courtyard Scenic Spot
The Old Courtyard is located in the Pengjiaxiang section of Yongding Avenue in the urban area of Zhangjiajie City, at the eastern end of Yuanyang Bay Bridge. It was first built in the early Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty and is a typical fire-sealed-wall courtyard-style building. It was one of the five major caomen gates of the Tian clan, a prominent family in the former greater Xiangxi region. It has a total of thirty-one rooms of various sizes, with deep courtyards and rigorous layout. The indoor furnishings remain unchanged from their old appearance, and the treasures collected are mostly rare items. It is now listed as a key cultural relic protection unit in Hunan Province. Its architectural style is a four-well fire-sealed-wall Tujia building, integrating Tujia gardens and Tujia stilted buildings, and is a typical Bizika (Tujia) residence. It is the best-preserved ancient Tujia dwelling surviving in all of Xiangxi and even the whole country, worthy of being called a living fossil of Tujia architecture, and is known as the "Number One Tujia Residence."
The Old Courtyard's Tian clan ancestor Tian Chengman held an extremely high official position during the Northern Song Dynasty. He once used the title of Tongfu to manage the various Tusi chiefs of Xiangxi on behalf of the imperial court. From the Northern Song Dynasty to the end of the Yuan and early Ming Dynasty, seven generations from Tian Chengman downward inherited the titles of Tongfu and Second-Rank Jingbian Dafu. Later, six generations inherited the titles of Third-Rank Dutong Marshal and Tusi Chief Taishi. The Tian clan ancestors established the "Zijing Academy" in civil learning and the "Bailu Martial Hall" in martial arts, spreading Confucian culture and promoting the Guigu divine skill. Through three dynasties, they formed what was truly a cultural and educational center in the Hunan-Hubei-Chongqing border region in history.
Successive heads of the Old Courtyard strictly followed the ancestral instruction to "leave poetry and books to descendants, and pass down filial piety and fraternal duty to the family." They revered Confucianism as the classic and regarded "honoring culture, valuing education, and carrying on the Way" as the family's operating philosophy. The family tradition was inherited and the family way was passed down, forming a continuously developing talent group. From the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, the Old Courtyard extended through six generations, with a total of one hundred male descendants, of whom forty-three obtained official honors. Among them were thirteen civil and military xiucai, one juren, nine Hanlin Academy Grand Scholars (equivalent to academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences), two fourth-rank capital officials, ten officials below the fourth rank, four women conferred the title of Gongren by imperial decree, and two Northern Expedition generals. Many of the present descendants are well-known scholars in the fields of education, science, and health. One of the last generation of the Old Courtyard, Tian Qijun, was a famous geologist in New China and one of the first batch of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and long presided over the work of the National Mineral Resources Committee. Former Premier Zhu Rongji of the State Council once studied at the Old Courtyard during the War of Resistance Against Japan, when Changsha Duize Middle School moved west to avoid the chaos.
The Old Courtyard is the ancestral residence of the Tian clan. The Tian clan ancestor Tian Chengman served successively as Taibao, Taifu, and Taishi during the Northern Song Dynasty, holding an extremely high official position, and once used the title of Tongfu to control the various Tusi kings of Xiangxi on behalf of the court. One of the last generation of the Old Courtyard, Tian Qijuan, was a famous geologist in New China and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Old Courtyard was a family of scholars for generations, producing outstanding people from a remarkable place, and wrote a rare family legend in history.
Visiting the Old Courtyard lets you experience the unique production and lifestyle of the "barbarian" lands deep in the mountains, tells you the legendary story of a family of scholars through eight generations, and reveals the true meaning of producing many talents and sustainable talent development. The Old Courtyard has rare treasures for guarding the house, and also many unsolved mysteries. Confucian culture, Taoist culture, Buddhist culture, and mysterious culture intersect, merge, and connect here, making it a textbook for decoding pluralism. The Old Courtyard invites you to participate in Tujia activities, touch the hospitable, affectionate, bold, and simple feelings of the Tujia people, and experience the simple and ancient Tujia customs. At the same time, extraordinary people from the greater Xiangxi area gather here to show you incomparably wonderful stunts and unique skills, things you have never heard of, too many to take in, and make you linger and forget to return......
Tourists coming here can both appreciate the fine works of calligraphers and painters and taste authentic Tujia cuisine. In addition, the Old Courtyard tourist attraction has launched a series of wonderful local cultural programs, allowing you to fully appreciate the splendid Tujia culture and shock your soul.
Tickets: Zhangjiajie Old Courtyard Scenic Spot ticket 70 RMB/piece.
Introduction to Yellow Dragon Cave Scenic Spot
Yellow Dragon Cave is one of the ace scenic spots of the Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area. With its large scale, complete contents, and beautiful scenery, it is praised as the "all-around champion" of cave landscapes. As many tourists say: Yellow Dragon Cave is the crystallization of poetry, the condensation of philosophy, and the statue of beauty.
During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, a great drought lasting a hundred days occurred. The famous master He Junru led his disciples into the cave to pray for rain, and all of them died. Before dying, Master He left a saying: "Let the field at the door dry to death, but do not strike Yellow Dragon Spring." From then on, no one paid attention to Yellow Dragon Cave. In early 1983, local villager Mao Jinchu organized nine militia members and, after going through countless hardships and dangers, finally verified the truth of this world cave wonder. In February 1984, development began, and in June of the same year, the Yellow Dragon Cave Office was established. It officially opened at the end of the year. In 1997, Yellow Dragon Cave was placed under the trusteeship of Beijing Datong Company. In November 1999, the World Aerobatic Grand Prix event of flying through Tianmen, initiated and operated by Yellow Dragon Cave Investment Co., Ltd., spread the name of Yellow Dragon Cave throughout the world.
The explored cave floor area of Yellow Dragon Cave is about 100,000 square meters, with a total length of 7,640 meters and a vertical height of 140 meters. It is divided internally into two layers of dry caves and two layers of water caves, with 1 reservoir, 2 rivers, 3 pools, 4 waterfalls, 13 halls, 98 corridors, as well as thousands of white jade pools and tens of thousands of stalactite peaks. The entire large cave is like an ancient tree, with gnarled roots and spreading branches. There are caves within caves, heavens beyond heavens, mountains repeated and waters winding, peaks turning and paths twisting. The cave landscapes formed by the condensation of natural gray matter solution are dazzling, too beautiful to take in, wondrous in every way, and complete in everything. Now, please join me in a magical tour of Yellow Dragon Cave. Please be careful not to fall behind. Double Gates Welcoming Guests—the two gates, the left one named "Happiness Gate" and the right one named "Longevity Gate." Do you value love as you wish, a happy marriage, and success in career, and choose to walk through the "Happiness Gate"? Or do you pray for increased longevity and a long life of a hundred years, and choose to walk through the "Longevity Gate"? Of course, everyone hopes to have both happiness and longevity. Then remember: choose one gate to enter now, and when the tour is over and you return, come out through the other gate. Wouldn't that be having both fish and bear's paw?
In 1994, during the Third China Cave Scenic Conference held here, a local writer偶然 discovered that wild grass was actually growing in the cave! Previously, no plants at all could be seen in Yellow Dragon Cave. Experts believed that the dry, dark natural conditions over hundreds of millions of years made plant growth impossible. But incredibly, due to long-term fluorescent lighting, a scene of spring actually sprouted in the cave. Strangely, under ordinary incandescent light, this scenery could not be seen. Could it be that some power of fluorescent light awakened their dream of life? In 1996, in the "Zhangjiajie Special" produced by CCTV's "Zhengda Variety," a "Guess" segment was specially designed for the grass growing in Yellow Dragon Cave. After that, some people came to Zhangjiajie for tourism just because of the wonder of "grass growing in the cave," saying they wanted to see with their own eyes whether it was true or false. So now I will give everyone a question to solve this ancient mystery of life: 1. Where did the seeds come from? Were they brought by birds and beasts? Blown in by the wind? Or remnants from prehistoric eras when the earth suffered many disasters? 2. Suppose the seeds were carried in when the earth's crust changed hundreds of millions of years ago. Then the seeds slept for hundreds of millions of years. Why did they neither die nor grow? Why did they revive under fluorescent light? Then what magical power does fluorescent light have? If anyone can solve this mystery, that person can become a permanent honored guest of Yellow Dragon Cave. I await everyone's answers. (Xiangshui River) Now we board the boat to tour the Xiangshui River. A dreamlike mood, a mythological atmosphere, and the splashing sound of water, like hearing ethereal immortal music. Qilong Island, Longhua Reef, Dragon King's Golden Helmet, Treasure Pavilion, Stone Flower Pillar, Incense Inserting Platform...... We seem to have come to the undersea palace in Andersen's fairy tales! No wonder the two UNESCO officials said while boating on the Xiangshui River that Yellow Dragon Cave was the most beautiful cave they had seen in the world, and that it also had such a long underground river was truly incredible.
According to expert research, Yellow Dragon Cave developed in Triassic carbonate rock strata. The cave system is a three-dimensional spatial structure of three large layers far from the shore and six small layers near the shore, and the main passages extend along the strike of the strata. About 380 million years ago, the Yellow Dragon Cave area was a vast sea, depositing highly soluble limestone and dolomite strata. After a long period, karst landforms began to form, until 65 million years ago when the crust uplifted and dry caves appeared. Then, through karst and water flow action, today's underground wonder was formed. (Heavenly Immortal Water) The Heavenly Immortal Water Hall has an area of 5,483 square meters. Look, those three streams of waterfall water have a drop of 27.3 meters, pouring down from the high dome and falling into three jade pools. This is the "Heavenly Immortal Water" drunk by the dragon clan in legend. (Tianzhu Street) To express his longing for a beautiful life, the poet Guo Moruo wrote the poem "Street Market in Heaven": Imagine that in the dim and distant sky, there must be a beautiful street market; the goods displayed in the market are rare treasures not found in the world...... It can be said that the artistic conception in the poem is most vividly displayed here. Look, those two stone pillars are called "Hard to Meet" and "Joyful Meeting." How could nature's arrangement, so full of humanity, not make people applaud? According to research, stalactites here grow only 1 meter in 270,000 years, and stalagmites grow only 1 centimeter every hundred years. A hundred years from now, these two small dragons, one above and one below, so close yet far apart and hating that they cannot meet, will be able to achieve the "Kiss of the Century." At that time, everyone is welcome to come and celebrate! Tianzhu Street is 1 kilometer long. The east and west streets, divided by the "Heavenly Street Market," are connected by Tianlong Bridge, which is 20 meters high, 3 meters wide, and 22 meters long. Tianlong Bridge is currently the largest stone arch bridge in tourist caves in China. Strolling on the bridge, will you think of the ancient legend of the magpie bridge over the Milky Way?
Human culture has entered an era of honoring ace attractions and pursuing the finest. The Wulingyuan Scenic and Historic Interest Area, listed as a World Natural Heritage site, is undoubtedly an ace of China's natural scenery, and Yellow Dragon Cave, listed by the National Tourism Administration as one of the 35 ace scenic spots nationwide, has deservedly become the core of this ace scenic area. This bright pearl hidden underground for hundreds of millions of years became famous at home and abroad along with Zhangjiajie's opening to the outside world in the early 1980s.
Tickets: Yellow Dragon Cave Scenic Spot ticket 80 RMB/piece.
Introduction to Qiliang Cave Scenic Spot
Qiliang Cave is located in Qiliangqiao Township north of Fenghuang Ancient Town, on the left side of the Jifeng Highway. It is said that Qiliang Cave was a refuge for local people nearby in ancient times. Legend has it that at the end of the Song Dynasty, the local leader He Che gathered people to revolt against the government, attacking cities and seizing forts with irresistible force. The imperial court sent the "Three Yang Brothers" to command troops to suppress them, but they were defeated by He Che using three magic treasures: the "Life-Chasing Drum," "Soul-Bewildering Gong," and "Lotus Umbrella." Later, because a traitor informed on them, the magic treasures were broken, and they retreated to defend Qiliang Cave, where all officers and soldiers died in battle. To this day, the folk story still circulates: "Thirty-six people killed nine thousand, dying in front of Qiliang Cave." On the stone wall on the right bank of the small stream hangs a "Lotus Umbrella," with the sound of flowing water. It is said to be He Che's protective magic treasure.
This scenic area combines mountains, rivers, gorges, dangerous shoals, precipices, flying waterfalls, forests, pastoral fields, and villages in one cave. It is famous for four major features: "wonder, elegance, seclusion, and steepness," and there is a saying that "after returning from Qiliang, one need not look at other caves." The cave entrance is like a giant dragon opening its mouth, more than 50 meters high and more than 20 meters wide. A clear stream passes through the cave, which is more than 6,000 meters long. Inside the cave are five major scenic areas: "Ancient Battlefield," "Gallery," "Heaven," "Dragon Palace," and "Yin-Yang River." Stone stalagmites, stone pillars, and stalactites in a thousand postures form incomparably magnificent scrolls. If you have enough time, this place is still worth a visit, especially the reflections in the water, which are a must-see.