In recent years, Chinese developers have opened a series of new tourist attractions in some very lofty places. Glass-bottomed bridges span deep canyons, narrow walkways cling to sheer cliffs, observation decks and “skywalks” top skyscrapers, and massive platforms cantilever out into thin air—all designed to entice the slightly adventurous traveler. Collected below, images of a few of these mountainside and urban destinations. A warning to any readers with a fear of heights: Some of these photos are a bit dizzying.
Dizzying Heights: Vertical Tourism in China
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People climb past a 100-meter-high convenience store installed on a cliff in Pingjiang in China's central Hunan province on April 25, 2018. The store was opened to offer food and water to rock climbers. #
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A view of the Zhujiang New Town financial district in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, seen from the observation deck of Canton Tower, 1,473 feet (449 meters) above street level. #
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A woman is coaxed to walk farther along the glass-bottomed suspension bridge at Hongyagu Scenic Area in Pingshan, Hebei province, on December 26, 2017. The 488-meter-long bridge is four meters wide and hangs nearly 218 meters above the valley floor. #
Zhang Haiqiang / VCG via Getty -
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A view of a newly completed horseshoe-shaped glass bridge on Fuxi Mountain in Xinmi in central China's Henan province, on June 12, 2018. The glass platform extends 30 meters out from the cliff, nine meters more than the world's famous Grand Canyon Skywalk. #
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Bailong Elevator is a glass elevator built onto the side of a huge cliff in the Wulingyuan area of Zhangjiajie, China, that stands 1,080 feet (330 meters) high, photographed here on March 6, 2016. #
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Tourists visit the glass-bottom bridge crossing Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon on August 20, 2016, in Hunan province. The bridge hangs over a 300-meter-deep valley between two cliffs in the canyon area. #
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The Shanghai skyline, including part of the Oriental Pearl Tower viewed through the opening at the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center, photographed on August 4, 2018. #
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An exterior view of the Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland during its opening to the public on November 15, 2018, in Shanghai, China. The hotel is located in the deep pit of a former quarry. It has two stories above ground and 16 stories underground, with 336 guest rooms. #
Zhang Hengwei / VCG via Getty -
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Construction workers build a new walkway in Mangshan National Forest Park, in Yizhang County, Hunan province, on November 1, 2018. They risk their lives and spend years working in the steep mountains, unknown to the public, to open new "sightseeing passages" for tourists. #
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