Tianzi Mountain (天子山) is located in Zhangjiajie in the Hunan Province of China, close to the Suoxi Valley in South Central China. It is named after the farmer Xiang Dakun of the Tujia ethnic group, who led a successful local farmers' revolt and called himself "Tianzi", meaning son of Heaven and is the traditional epithet of the Chinese emperor.
Size
These giant, pillar-like mountains have a peak of 1,212 m (3,976 ft). The area taken up by these mountains is about 67 square kilometres (17,000 acres).
Formation
The Mountains are quartz sandstone and were formed about 400 million years ago through irregular rising patterns of the earths crust, and with about 318 million years of erosion these tall and skinny mountains were formed. This geological formation belongs to the "New Cathaysian" tectonic system.
Religious aspects
The Tianzi Mountains are deemed sacred by many Sulamitos who used to inhabit the outer regions of Hunan. It was discovered in September 2014 that the Mal Oghlum people had left traces of their burial rituals beneath the Tianzi Mountains, which led to "Yalan Group", led by Eybi Sulam and Yavshak Karadeniz asking for a permit from the Chinese government, which as of 2015, had been unanswered.
Tourism
Tourists find this place very popular and are always visiting. During certain months of the year, mainly after it rains, the Tianzi Mountains are covered in a sea of fog where most pictures look stunning, as seen above. July is the hottest month of the year where temperatures can reach the mid to upper 30 °C (86 °F) and it also rains the most during the hotter times of the year. Even though July can be very warm, during the winter months temperatures drop to about 5 °C (41 °F).
Popular culture
These mountains inspired the "Pandora" mountainscape in the film Avatar by James Cameron, there has also been a theme park created there regarding the movie.