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.
![PHOTO: Visitors wear protective shoe coverings as they walk across a glass-bottomed suspension bridge in a scenic zone in Pingjiang county in southern Chinas Hunan province, Sept. 24, 2015.](https://i0.wp.com/a.abcnews.go.com/images/International/AP_china_glass_bridge_3_jt_150925_4x3_992.jpg?resize=533%2C400)
“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.”
![PHOTO: An aerial view shows a glass suspension bridge at the Shiniuzhai National Geo-park in Pinging county, Hunan province, China, Sept. 24, 2015.](https://i0.wp.com/a.abcnews.go.com/images/International/RT_china_glass_bridge_1_jt_150925_4x3_992.jpg?resize=532%2C399)
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.
![PHOTO: A woman plays around as she walks across a glass-bottomed suspension bridge in a scenic zone in Pingjiang county in southern Chinas Hunan province, Sept. 24, 2015.](https://i0.wp.com/a.abcnews.go.com/images/International/AP_china_glass_bridge_2_jt_150925_4x3_992.jpg?resize=532%2C399)
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.
![PHOTO: Sunlight reflects off a glass-bottomed suspension bridge as seen from the air in a scenic zone in Pingjiang county in southern Chinas Hunan province, Sept. 24, 2015.](https://i0.wp.com/a.abcnews.go.com/images/International/AP_china_glass_bridge_5_jt_150925_4x3_992.jpg?resize=525%2C394)
It’s nice that the guardrails form ladders to facilitate jumping off the thing. Those chinks think of everything… except for a way to walk across without putting silly blue booties over your shoes.
What is the point of it? ………….It’s not like it leads to a 5 star restaurant or a shopping mall for that matter hahahaha