The growing "China Cool" trend on overseas social media is fueling a surge in inbound tourism, with more foreign travelers choosing immensive experiences across China.
In central China's Hunan Province, the scenic city of Zhangjiajie, for its stunning sandstone mountains, has emerged as a popular summer destination, attracting overseas visitors with its breathtaking landscapes, cool weather and outdoor adventure activities.
"I do really like the relaxed pace and relaxed nature of this site. I do like the cool climate as well," said a tourist from Australia.
Beyond its scenery, Zhangjiajie also offers a range of adventure experiences, including glass bridge walks, via ferrata climbing and zip-lining, which have become major draws for international visitors.
"We just experienced the zip line, which was exciting and also came along the gorge by boat and also slid on the slide. I won because I was faster and we liked it very much," said a tourist from Germany.
"Exactly. We are also across the glass bridge and hiked, and the view was nice there too," another visitor said.
Official data showed that since July, Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon scenic area has received nearly 10,000 visitors a day on average, with foreign tourists accounting for more than half of the total.
To better serve the international travelers, the scenic area has launched a multilingual AI-powered tourism assistant supporting real-time interaction in 14 languages, while improving cross-border payment services and streamlining ticketing and identity verification procedures.
Viral China travel trend powers surge in inbound tourism to Zhangjiajie
The United States excluded Israel from decision-making for several hours before calling off a planned attack on Iran, leaving Israeli officials completely unaware of the move, Israel's Channel 12 reported on Sunday.
According to the report, a senior Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and other top officials only learned of the U.S. decision to call off the strike on Iran through a social media post by President Donald Trump.
In the hours before that, the Israeli government was in a state of information vacuum and uncertainty, confused about Washington's strategic intentions, the report said.
The report said that after Trump announced the cancellation, Israel felt "abandoned by its ally."
At first, Israeli officials thought the United States might be employing a deception tactic to mislead Iran. However, after military and diplomatic channels attempted to contact Washington, they finally confirmed that the Trump administration had genuinely reversed the course, said the report.
Another senior Israeli official voiced deep frustration, saying it would take a long time to reestablish tactical deployment once the military scales down its readiness.
He noted that Israel had concentrated all its military resources on one front, only to realize that the extended high‑alert posture had been largely for nothing.
The official also said that Israel was unclear about the U.S. administration's ultimate intentions.
The report concluded that, given the uncertainty over whether the Trump administration might reverse its decision again, the Israeli military is keeping its forces at a high level of alert.
Israel left in dark as US cancels strike against Iran: officials
