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China's terrifying new viewing platform

<p>Anyone with a fear of heights should look away now. China's latest glass-bottomed attraction has opened just outside Beijing and tourists are flocking to take a walk on the see-through surface.</p> <p>Claiming three world records, the walkway is supposedly the world's largest glass platform with a circular surface area of 415 square metres. Protruding 33m over the cliff edge in Jingdong Stone Forest Gorge, it is also the longest in the world. The third record goes for the first time aviation titanium has been in the construction of a 'building'.</p> <p>Last year a skywalk was opened on the 76th floor of the Yunding Building in Liuzhou, Guangxi. Months earlier, Chinese authorities were forced to close an attraction after a glass pane on a new transparent walkway shattered suddenly.</p> <p>To see the skywalk, watch the video above. It certainly seems like a daunting attraction – do you think you could ever see yourself trying it?</p> <p><em>First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span></strong></a>.</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/travel/international/2016/06/plank-road-in-the-sky-on-mt-hua-china/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Walking China’s “Plank Road in the Sky”</span></em></strong></a></p> <p><a href="/news/news/2016/05/futuristic-hoverbus-china-traffic-problem/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>Futuristic hoverbus to tackle China’s traffic problem</em></strong></span></a></p> <p><a href="/news/news/2016/05/10-photographs-apricot-blossoms-china/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">10 photographs of China’s breathtaking apricot blossoms</span></em></strong></a></p>

International Travel

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Glass walkway in China shatters

<p>A group of tourists exploring a transparent walkway on China’s Yuntai Mountain were left shocked this week when a pane of glass on the newly-installed platform suddenly shattered.</p> <p>Representatives for the Yuntai Mountain Scenic Spot say the crack was caused when a tourist dropped a stainless steel mug onto the walkway. Tourists on the platform took to social media to describe the event, claiming they could feel the walkway shake beneath as the glass broke.</p> <p><img width="497" height="310" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/9789/cracked-glass-walkway-shatters-china_497x310.jpg" alt="Cracked Glass Walkway Shatters China" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p><em>Image credit: Lee Dong Hai / Weibo</em></p> <p>Lee Dong Hai, a tourist who was on the walkway at the time, described the tense moment on social media site Weibo, writing, “My foot shook a little. I looked down and I saw that there was a crack in the floor. A lot of people started to scream. I screamed out, ‘It cracked! It really cracked!’ and then I pushed the people in front of me so that we could run out of the way.”</p> <p>The walkway in question is suspended roughly 1000 metres above sea level. It was opened to the public in September and has been closed for repairs since the incident. Representatives for the Yuntai Mountain Scenic Spot say none of the tourists were in danger as walkway consists of three layers of glass, reportedly capable of supporting weights up to 800 kilograms per square metre.</p> <p>Still, the fact that a crack was caused by a mug is not an encouraging one and probably a sign that you should wait a little while before you take a stroll on the walkway yourself.</p>

International Travel