Located at the northwest of Hunan province, Wulingyuan, Zhangjiajie has a total area of approximately 397 square kilometres. The region was listed as a World Natural Heritage in 1992 by UNESCO. Mountains in Zhangjiajie appear as pillars, with the three thousands of them seemingly floating in the air, an extraordinary landform named “Zhangjiajie Landform” by the International Association of Geomorphologists in 2010. The area of Zhangjiajie was an ancient ocean about 380 million years ago before a tremendous amount of terrigenous clasts sedimented to form the parent rock of Zhangjiajie – quartz sandstone. Later, deformation of the earth’s crust lifted the area as land. After several million years of erosion by water and wind, mesas were transformed into buttes and peak walls, which then broke into a forest of over three thousand overlapping peaks of peculiar shapes.

Deep inside the Wuling Mountains is a secluded village of the Tujia ethnic group called Shiyanping Village. Among the population of only over six hundred people, two-thirds of them carry the surname “Quan”. With a history of more than six hundred years, the village preserved numerous stilt houses built during late Qing dynasty that seem to bring us back to the ancient past. The village’s oil pressing plant also dates back to over a century ago. That they still adopt the traditional, manual way of pressing oil is rare in this modern society. Lamentably, the decreasing number of young descendants staying in the village means these ancient village cultures are at risk of being lost.

The Zhangjiajie Landform has reached its maturity by now after nurture and development. However, no flower can bloom forever, and nothing in nature can escape from withering or ageing. Zhangjiajie is no exception. Perhaps one day she will return to the sea and to the past.

Assistant Producer: Dorothy YIP
Producer: Tom CHAN
Executive Producer: CHUNG Ka-wai