A 288-meter (945-foot) cliffside elevator has entered service in Yunnan Province, China, providing a faster route to school for children from Nizhuhe Village at the bottom of a canyon.
The new lift, named the "Fuyao Ladder," operates alongside the 268-meter (879-foot) "Qingyun Ladder" that opened in 2022.
Before the elevators were built, students aged roughly six to 15 had to hike precarious cliffside trails for about three hours each way to reach Guanzhai Primary School, which sits at approximately 1,650 meters (5,413 feet) elevation.
The village itself lies at a much lower elevation, making the round trip a six-hour ordeal that children undertook roughly every 10 days for boarding school.
According to local outlet Yunnan Net, the new elevator features a fully transparent 360-degree glass curtain wall and travels at 5 meters (16 feet) per second.
Combined, the two elevators can move 1,200 people per hour, raising the scenic area's daily visitor capacity from 4,000 to 15,000.
Students now take a shuttle bus to the elevator base, ride the lift to a platform near the mountain top, and then board a five-minute aerial cable car to reach the school.
The full journey has been reduced from six hours to around 30 minutes, allowing students to attend classes without the physical strain and danger of cliff climbing.
Insane 940-foot Chinese cliff elevator dramatically cuts school commute
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