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This engineering work overlooks the mysterious landscapes that inspired James Cameron’s Avatar film.
In Zhangjiajie Forest Park in central China, the world’s tallest outdoor lift (326 meters) offers a breathtaking view of the mysterious landscapes that inspired James Cameron’s Avatar film.
Gliding along a metal structure that rests on the cliff face, the three viewing cabins move at a speed that can reach 5 meters per second, equivalent to 18 kilometers per hour. The journey takes 88 seconds in this engineering feat, recognized since 2015 by the Guinness Book of Records as “the highest outdoor lift in the world”.
“It’s super fast,” exclaims Jin Shihao, an elderly Chinese tourist who says he wasn’t afraid on the way up, for which he paid 125 yuan (16 euros, $ 19) for a round trip.
Inaugurated in 2002, the Bailong lift, “One Hundred Dragons” in Chinese, is located in the mountainous province of Hunan, precisely in the area of the city of Wulingyuan, which since 1992 has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
“One of the reasons I came is because this place inspired Avatar. We loved the movie and this place is wonderful,” says Qiao Ke, a 45-year-old tourist who came with his family.
Wulingyuan covers an area of 26,000 hectares, in which there are about 3,000 rock pinnacles, some of which are 200 meters high.
This natural, almost dreamlike landscape has become famous all over the world for inspiring director James Cameron to create Pandora, the fictional planet on which his famous film, released in 2009, takes place.
“We built the elevator because the topography of the site really lends itself to this mode of transportation,” says Liu Jie, director of the company that operates the elevator.
“Before there was only one cable car with very limited capacity and tourists had to wait a long time” or walk up, which “took three hours” and “wasn’t very practical,” he adds.
An average of 8,000 people take this lift every day. Last year they hit 14,000, before the new coronavirus pandemic emerged.
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