A poster from "Avatar" [Global Times]

As "Avatar"'s release in China draws near, a Chinese web user surnamed Deng put up a posting on rednet.cn Tuesday. He doubted director James Cameron's words during a press conference promoting Avatar on December 23.

Canadian director Cameron revealed that China was the inspiration for some of the alien planet scenes in the film, especially "Hallelujah Mountain," which he said was modeled after Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province. He recalled sending his crew to the site to select scenery and take pictures. "All we had to do was simply recreate Huangshan Mountain in outer space."

However, Internet user Deng provided some evidence to prove that the model of "Hallelujah Mountain" in Avatar is not Huangshan Mountain in Anhui Province, but an area called the South Pillar of Heaven in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province. Deng put a picture of the South Pillar of Heaven next to a still scene from Avatar, showing how the two mountains look very similar. Deng claimed he worked in Zhangjiajie and was very familiar with the South Pillar of Heaven, often taking pictures of it from different perspectives.

A number of online users replied this post, accusing Cameron of giving misleading information.

Avatar is the story of an ex-Marine who finds himself thrust into hostilities on an alien planet filled with exotic life forms. It is scheduled to debut in China on January 4, 2010.