China has just opened its first glass-bottomed suspension bridge, and being nearly 600-feet-high and 1,000-feet-long, it definitely isn’t for the faint of heart.
The high-altitude, transparent bridge opened this past Thursday in Zhangjiaje Grand Canyon in central China’s Hunan province, according to Chinese newspaper, the People’s Daily.
The canyon, which is a part of the Shiniuzhai National Geological Park, reportedly inspired the world of James Cameron’s “Avatar,” the China Daily reported, adding that a sky column similar to one seen in the movie, was renamed “Avatar Hallelujah Mountain” in 2010.
The new bridge is expected to be named the longest and tallest glass-bottomed bridge in the world, the BBC reported this past June, when its Tel Aviv-based architecture, Haim Dotan, first shared conceptual art of the structure.
Visitors wear protective shoe coverings as they walk across a glass-bottomed suspension bridge in a scenic zone in Pingjiang county in southern China’s Hunan province, Sept. 24, 2015. more +
“I believe in nature, harmony, balance and beauty,” Dotan told the BBC. “Nature is beautiful as is. The Zhangjiajie Glass Bridge was designed to be invisible as possible — a white bridge disappearing into the clouds.”
An aerial view shows a glass suspension bridge at the Shiniuzhai National Geo-park in Pinging county, Hunan province, China, Sept. 24, 2015. more +
Despite its minimalist look, the bridge has been designed to withstand high winds, earthquakes, frost and the weight of 800 visitors at any given time, the BBC added.
A woman plays around as she walks across a glass-bottomed suspension bridge in a scenic zone in Pingjiang county in southern China’s Hunan province, Sept. 24, 2015. more +
Photos from the bridge’s recent opening to the public show both thrill-seeking tourists excited to cross and visitors too frightened to continue walking across.
Sunlight reflects off a glass-bottomed suspension bridge as seen from the air in a scenic zone in Pingjiang county in southern China’s Hunan province, Sept. 24, 2015.