Fancy visiting the dangerous, mysterious yet beautiful floating 'Hallelujah mountains' on the planet Pandora? Well, don't bother transforming into a blue-skinned Avatar or wearing an oxygen mask to do so. It turns out a visit to Zhangjiajie in Hunan will do. You might not see Navis, the inhabitants of Pandora, but aborigines belonging to the Tu ethnic minority will welcome you for bringing business. The name of Zhangjiajie's 'Southern Sky Column' was formally changed to 'Avatar Hallelujah Mountain' in a ceremony yesterday, according to the Zhangjiajie government's official website. A Hollywood photographer spent four days shooting pictures in Zhangjiajie in December 2008 and many later became prototypes for the planet Pandora in the US movie Avatar, including the floating Hallelujah mountains, which were based on the 'Southern Sky Column', the city government said. Tourists can now join a 'magical tour to Avatar-Pandora' or a 'miracle tour to Avatar's floating mountain', another statement on the website said. Song Zhiguang, director of the management committee for the Yuanjiajie Scenic Area, where the column is located, denied accusations by internet users that renaming the column was an example of fawning over foreign things. He said park management was simply 'meeting the demand of tourists and aborigines in the scenery area'. But Zhangjiajie is not the only city hoping to cash in on Avatar. Anhui's Mount Huang is engaged in a branding war with Zhangjiajie for the right to be called the prototype of the Hallelujah mountains. Director James Cameron, publicising the film in Beijing, said the movie mountains were inspired by Mount Huang and 'all we had to do was simply recreate Mount Huang in outer space'. The film has become a sensation on the mainland and fans have queued for hours for tickets.
