Fake Mount Fuji In China With White-Paint Hilltop Scams Tourists

NDTV

03-05-2025

Quick Take
Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed.
A hill in China was painted white to mimic Mount Fuji, attracting tourists.
Visitors pay 98 yuan for entry to the attraction named Universe Fantasy Land.
The site gained popularity on social media through photos, videos posted online.
In a bizarre incident, a tourist spot in China has become the centre of trolling after the summit of a small hill was painted white to mimic the iconic Mount Fuji. The faux Mount Fuji, dubbed the Universe Fantasy Land, is situated in the Hebei province of northern China, with visitors being charged Rs 1,138 (98 yuan) for each visit.
According to a report in South China Morning Post, the tourist spot went viral on Chinese social media platforms after users posted videos and photos of the hill. The authorities responsible for the site sold it to prospective visitors as a fairy tale landscape, featuring a mountain, a lake, lush green grass, a white horse and a charming wooden cottage.
The fantasy land was meant to be a getaway for urban dwellers from the capital city of Beijing who were eager to escape the mundane reality of life. One of the promotional videos of the location showed tourists nestled up in a nearby building as artificial pink smoke released from the hill -- designed as an "eruption" from the volcano hill.
While many visitors were drawn by the clever promo material, they could not help but feel scammed as the mountain advertised turned out to be nothing more than a modest hilltop, painted white.
"Just a small hill with white paint on its top. It has nothing to do with Mount Fuji," one visitor said, while another added: "Just another instance of how modern individuals are misled by glamorous photographs."
A third commented: "You do not need to pay to capture photos with the real Mount Fuji, yet here you have to pay for the fake one."
This is not the first instance when the Hebei province has gained headlines for its depiction of monuments and tourist attractions. Previously, the Eiffel Tower, the Great Sphinx of Giza, and even sections of the Great Wall have been replicated in the province, much to the amusement of the tourists.
There's a fake Mount Fuji at 宇宙思想乐园 (cosmic thought park) in Linqi Valley (林栖谷), Yongqing County (永清县), Langfang (廊坊), Heibei, near Beijing…
left video: what you see in promo videos
right pics and video: what you actually see there
😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/HEPH8o2qL1
— Byron Wan (@Byron_Wan) May 2, 2025
Chinese man rescued
Earlier this week, a Chinese man had to be rescued twice from the slopes of Mount Fuji in the space of a week after he returned to the mountain peak to retrieve his phone.
The man was airlifted the first time while on the Fujinomiya trail, about 3,000m above sea level, on the mountain's Shizuoka Prefecture side. However, he became the subject of a second search only four days later when he decided to recover his belongings that he had left behind, including his phone.
It remains unclear if he had managed to retrieve the phone, but rescue officials soon recognised that he was the same man they had rescued a few days earlier.