Zhangjiajie and The Yellow Dragon Cave: Everything You Didn't Know | China Revealed | TRACKS

[Music] in the mountains of central China lyza Valley so remote it was forgotten by the outside world 3000 fragile pillars of sandstone pierce the misty sky at their base a labyrinth of limestone caves a pristine geological marvel this is junk Chow Jia China's first National Forest Park a paradise discovered deep in the land of the Dragon [Music] [Music] [Applause] in Changsha Chia remarkable sand stone columns tower over snaking valleys pristine streams and lush forests the region's distinct geomorphology was formed over millions of years as wind water and ice carved the south [Music] 3000 spires of sandstone stretching hundreds of feet high are capped by oases of trees creating a landscape unlike any other Cheng Chao Chia is so lush 98% of the park is blanketed by over 1500 species of plants [Music] for centuries this extraordinary landscape was a secret barely settled and seldom visited [Music] Cheng Chao chia covers 21 thousand acres in the human province buried deep and the remote and inaccessible mountains of central China [Music] for thousands of years law-abiding locals viewed the wild land with suspicion so Jen chuchita was the perfect hideout for people on the run [Music] [Music] these misty Peaks were home to outcasts and outlaws once more than ten mountain strongholds were built on top of the sheer Peaks the elevated terrain was easy to defend the only way up was by rope [Music] once an army sought refuge on the highest peaks in Changzhou gia 500 years ago a local king led a revolution against the mighty main dynasty and lost the king and his soldiers retreated into the mountains of Changjo gia but they were unable to bear the shame of defeat [Music] so the king in his army threw themselves from the top of the highest cliff [Music] some locals believe their fallen king is still alive training his soldiers in the misty valleys stand close to the abyss and it's said you can hear the echoes of an ancient army preparing for battle [Music] jungjoo Chia was a land forgotten an island of stone lost in rugged mountains until forty years ago only locals knew Cheung Chau Chia existed in the late 1970s Chinese master painter wu guangzhong chanced upon the area [Music] fascinated by the scenery he said this place is a Brightpearl unknown in the depths of the mountains the painters spent months immersed in the landscapes the area was so desolate he had to live in a shed belonging to a local woodsman only when wind on jump returned to civilization with his paintings did China learn that the beautiful landscapes in chunk chacha today the isolated valleys are one of China's most popular destinations [Music] [Applause] [Music] the biggest attractions in Changzhou chia are more than 3000 incredible pillars [Music] floating above the mists the stone column seemed to defy gravity [Music] these sandstone sculptures of Changjo chia cover an area of 33 square miles roughly equivalent to the size of Manhattan Island and like Manhattan these stone skyscrapers define the landscape [Music] more than 100 pillars stand over 650 feet high the sandstone columns tower above pristine valleys testimony to the power of water and the unrelenting forces of nature it's a world of such remarkable and unique geology that in 2004 the pillars and valleys became a UNESCO World covering an area almost the size of Rhode Island [Music] when Chinese scientists first ventured into the lush forests they discovered a primeval paradise full of unique plants and animals in 1982 Cheng Chao Chia became China's first national forest park ten years later the spectacular landscape caught the world's attention when it was named as a unesco world heritage site [Music] it took millions of years to create the extraordinary landscape of Changzhou Chia sculpted by powerful natural forces the land is still constantly evolving the history of Cheung Chau Chia began 60 million years ago at the bottom of a tropical sea [Music] you once the mountains of Cheung Chau Chia were remote and inaccessible today gondolas glide effortlessly through a forest of stony peaks [Music] there are three different aerial roots to the tops of the mountain including the longest passenger cableway in the world the ride is over four and a half miles long with 98 cars bumping over 57 towers and climbing more than 4,000 feet to the mountaintops being suspended in a swaying glass-bottom gondola is not for the faint-hearted but the views from the top really are out of this world [Music] [Music] in 2004 the United Nations declared the 3,000 sandstone spires topped with clinging pine trees to be one of the most remarkable geological spectacles on the planet it's hard to believe 60 million years ago jeong cho chia was submerged beneath a tropical sea constantly tormented by shifting tectonic plates the seafloor was gradually lifted to become a shallow sea sitting among mountains runoff from the nearby mountains and rivers laid down a bed of quartz and sandstone more than 1,600 feet thick when the waters EV Dawei the rock was exposed to the weather zero civ power [Music] thanks to China's intricate geology the sandstone bed was full of vertical cracks that one day would become the deep valleys of Chao Chao Jia [Music] when water seeps into vertical cracks in the rock it washes away loose debris and erodes the binding material holding the sandstone together in winter the water freezes and expands applying enough pressure to break off pieces of the surrounding rock which are swept away by the scouring winds over millions of years the soft sandstone is eroded away creating deep and twisting valleys but in areas where the sandstone was mixed with quartz the rock defiantly resisted erosion creating the mighty pillars soaring up out of the mists each year water continues cutting the valleys deeper and the spires ciao ciao Chia sits in the middle of the subtropics and monsoon rains sweep across the mountains [Music] each year the stone pillars are dredged by more than 50 inches of rain in the moist humid conditions every horizontal surface is covered with lush forest the roots of trees squeezed into narrow crevices splintering the rock while wind and frost continue to gnaw at the sandstone [Music] John Chow chia is a fragile paradise the combined effects of weather tree roots and the ever-present earthquakes mean parts of the delicate pillars give way in 1980 a huge slab of rock fell off the peak known as the drunk monk sometimes whole pillars collapse while others with the right degree of hardness and balance survive despite their missing sections wind and water can gnaw at the foundations of a pillar creating a hole in the rock which in time can form an enormous natural bridge in the mountain this bridge is over 130 feet long 33 feet wide and 50 feet thick it's named the first bridge under the Sun because suspended 1200 feet above the valley floor it's reputed to be the highest natural bridge in the world [Music] throughout the park more than 70 pillars and rocks have been given their own name each made distinct by erosion and its shroud of vegetation but there are still thousands of anonymous Peaks and visitors are invited to contribute their own names for pillars with personality [Music] [Music] however down on the valley floor there's a rock with a history that said to stretch all the way back to the first emperor of China [Music] you [Music] [Music] having been left in perfect isolation until the 1980s Changzhou chia is a pristine paradise [Music] Hylian remote mountainous far from civilization and covered in primeval forest the park has some of the cleanest air in child [Music] it's even been nicknamed mother nature's oxygen bar [Music] compared to outside the park the air contains 88 percent fewer dust particles and ten percent more water vapor [Music] [Music] it's been suggested that the air is a medical marvel that's why hypertension patients come here to breathe in the air and lower their blood pressure the purity of the air is in part due to a smoking ban inside the park chouchou chia is one of the only places in China that is completely smoke-free which is good for the health of the visitors and the trees a complete fire ban exists within Zhang Xiao Jia to protect the incredible diversity of plants 98% of the park is covered in forest John Chow Chia contains 1,500 species of seed plants that's twice the number of species in all of Europe and it has more than half the pine and conifer species in the world in China there's a save in Cheung Chau Chia stand a thousand Peaks among the peaks stand a million pies some of the trees are survivors from the ancient past relics from the for the Ice Age once thought extinct only to be rediscovered in the sheltered valleys of Cheung Chau Chia nestled at the feet of the towering pillars beneath the canopy of ancient trees some eight hundred streams crisscross the valleys [Music] one of the most beautiful and famous is the golden whip stream according to legend the very first emperor of China wanted to fill the empty seas so he began driving mountains across the land towards the coast spurring them on with his magical golden whip the plan enraged the dragon king of the eastern sea so he sent his daughter to stop the emperor with her great beauty she managed to distract the Emperor and swapped his magic golden whip for one of plain leather the girl then transformed the golden whip into a gigantic pillar of rock 1,200 feet tall the foundations of the stone whip stand by the stream to this very day a permanent reminder of how a beautiful girl once prevented the sea from being filled with mountains [Music] the golden whip stream is absolutely miniscule on a global scale only four and a half miles long but it's famous throughout China for being both incredibly pure and picturesque these isolated valleys of Cheung Chau Chia are also a refuge for many endangered animals from the Chinese giant salamander to the rhesus monkey the golden whip stream is also famous for cloud leopards and pangolins but the constant commotion along the riverbanks usually sends them all scurrying deep into the forest running close to the entrance of the park the stream is one of the most popular destinations in Cheung Chau here but not everything in this mystical land is shy and retiring [Music] the golden whip stream flows into a lake said to be guarded by a gigantic crocodile [Music] [Music] not all the stone pillars of Cheung Chau Chia float in the sea of mist [Music] some are suspended above one of the most beautiful alpine lakes in China [Music] according to legend a clear green water once enchanted a goddess the lake was said to be the home of a heavenly spirit whenever she took a break from celestial intriguing she spent the day staring into the water enraptured by her own reflection today she still stands by the lake as a pillar of stone wearing a crown of trees it said if someone tries to steal her crown and nearby island shaped like a crocodile will spring into life and swallow thieves whole and there is no shortage of people wanting to admire her crowd [Music] thirty years ago the boats and the lake didn't exist once this was just another Valley in Zhang Xiao Jia until the locals decided they needed a more permanent water supply so the residents built a dam across the river and created a reservoir originally meant for irrigation and a little fishing but the lake was so beautiful within five years painters and poets were soaking in its splendor soon the lake became one of the most popular destinations in Changzhou cheer [Music] and before long the hills were alive with the sound of music the locals have a long tradition of song and dance the high clear notes carrying across the mountains like a Chinese version of yodeling men and women gather at floating pavilions on the lake to sing songs of courtship [Music] [Applause] [Music] traditionally a man had a lot riding on his ability to sing as the courtship ritual was a duet and he had to match his girlfriend's vocal prowess the yodeling punctuation point requests a response from his prospective bride [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] brides traditionally sang for up to a month before their wedding a lament symbolizing their sorrow at having to leave their family for centuries the locals have treasured the pristine waters flowing from chin ChaCha but there are places in the part where the river disappears underground into the lair of the yellow dragon [Music] according to legend an enormous dragon lives deep underground beneath the mountains of chunk ouchies carved from limestone rock the yellow dragon cave sprawls over more than 12 square miles the cavern complex takes about two hours to explore [Music] today the roots are well paved and extravagantly lit but for centuries the locals stayed well clear believing the cave was home to ancient spirits and the yellow dragon [Music] it wasn't until 1982 that a team of cavers set out to explore the depths of the mighty cavern [Music] [Applause] [Music] it involves some serious climbing because the vast cave is spread over four levels with a vertical height of over 330 feet the yellow dragon cave complex is one of the largest subterranean systems in China only partially mapped out explorers have ventured more than nine miles into the cave one of the biggest single chambers is called the ballroom cavern covering 130,000 square feet the ballroom cavern is said to have enough room for 10,000 dancing humans [Music] [Music] this massive subterranean space was carved out of solid limestone by water [Music] the process begins far above when rainwater filters through the soil and reacts with carbon dioxide to form carbonic acid which dissolves limestone [Music] when the corrosive water trickles down through tiny pores and cavities in the limestone it eats away at the rock [Music] cavities become cracks and as the cracks get wider more water enters and erodes more Rock cracks become chambers and chambers become caverns big enough to house a dragon eventually dripping water decorates the cavern with stalagmites until the landscape underground echoes the pillars of rock above [Music] the stalagmites are said to be the teeth of the yellowdragon each tooth is formed by drops of falling water saturated with minerals leached from the rock [Music] each droplet leaves behind the faintest trace of limestone so small that each year a stalactite only grows about 5/100 of an inch less than the width of a human hair [Music] some stalagmites in the cave are over 60 feet tall which would make them almost 15,000 years old [Music] one of the most famous stalagmites is said to guard the throne of the yellow dragon [Music] the delicate limestone needle is so fragile and so beautiful it's rumored to be insured for 12 million dollars according to legend the subterranean yellow dragon is also responsible for solving a water shortage [Music] once a powerful magician came down into the cave to beg the yellow dragon for water as prolonged drought had brought great suffering and misery to the land when his pleas went unnoticed the magician grew angry and drew his sword [Music] enraged the dragon released a massive flood inside the cave that still flows to this very day [Music] the yellow dragon cave contains one of the longest underground rivers in China the river is very deep over 40 feet in some places and very warm at 60 degrees Fahrenheit it's the perfect habitat for the caves real-life dragons Chinese giant salamanders that prowl the waterway feasting on insects and dodging the tour boats winding their way through the twisting channels the labyrinth of caves beneath cheung chau chia are spectacular but it's the pillars of rock above ground that were the inspiration for one of the world's most famous feature films the stone pinnacles of ciaochao Chia appeared to defy gravity the sheer cliffs soar up to 1,300 feet above the valley and at the top the view really could come from another [Music] the forest Gladstone pillars were the inspiration for the floating islands in the movie Avatar [Music] researchers took photographs of John Chow Chia as reference material for the creation of the make-believe planet of Pandora in the film the Hallelujah Maui is circulated in magnetic currents floating high above the misty planet below for centuries one of the most famous peaks in chunkier was called the pillar between heaven and earth [Music] in 2010 the name was officially changed to avatar hallelujah mountain [Music] after the release of the movie 19 million people came to see the real-life Pandora [Music] it may not float on a strong magnetic field but there is something otherworldly about a forest suspended five of the ground on a slender column of sandstone [Music] for the heroes of Avatar the Hallelujah mountains were a refuge a place to hide from the authorities and in China the same thing happened at Jung Cho Chia for centuries it was a mountain sanctuary for rebels and their armies but today the peaks and valleys are a fragile jewel in China's National Forest Park System [Music] a pristine paradise unlike any other on earth there is a new saying around here pandora is far but ching chong chia is near discovered in a forgotten corner [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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Keywords: Yellow Dragon Cave, Zhangjiajie, ancient cities, old china, china fun facts, china trivia, china tourism, chinese history, china, travel vlog, culture, chinese culture, chinese food, travel guide, sightseeing, TRACKS, tracks travel channel, tracks travel, landmarks, archaeology, caves, hidden taverns

Id: iTBQfLL3bDc

Length: 46min 21sec (2781 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 24 2019