GUIYANG, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- As the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge in southwest China's Guizhou Province stood veiled in morning mist, Xie Chaoqing, a local guesthouse owner, flew his drone past its tallest tower, capturing anew the majestic stature of the world's highest operational bridge, a structure he said has completely transformed his life.
The bridge, soaring 625 meters above the Beipan River in Guizhou's mountainous terrain, is nearly nine times the height of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Spanning the Huajiang Grand Canyon, dubbed "the Earth's crack," the 2,890-meter-long structure is the latest addition to the rapidly expanding infrastructure network of the world's second-largest economy.
After it opened to traffic at the end of September this year, the bridge slashed travel time across the canyon from two hours to just two minutes, greatly enhancing regional connectivity.
Local authorities, however, aim to develop this engineering marvel into a world-renowned tourist attraction that could rival the fame of the Huangguoshu Waterfall, Asia's largest, located just 50 km away. Tourism functionality was integrated into the bridge's design from the very beginning of its construction in 2022.
An area of over 50 square kilometers around the bridge site has been incorporated into the plan and is being developed into a high-altitude tourism destination that integrates extreme sports, science education, sightseeing and vacations, said Jian Jijun, deputy general manager of a local transportation and investment group in Guizhou.
Perched at the foot of the bridge, Xie's guesthouse offers a full view of the structure from its rooftop terrace. During the recently concluded National Day holiday, all ten-plus rooms were fully booked well in advance. "We had tourists arriving with their entire families to see the bridge. We even offered some of them a room for free," Xie recalled.
According to official data, the bridge saw a staggering 220,000 tourist visits throughout the holiday. "This project has given many of us locals a new sense of direction and purpose in life," he said, watching the uninterrupted stream of tourists.
Like many others, 43-year-old Xie and his wife once rode the wave of the e-commerce boom in east China's Zhejiang Province. Returning to his hometown in Guizhou, one of China's least developed provinces, marked a shift in his career toward content creation. He became a social media influencer, working with friends to produce short videos focused on rural life.
During an outdoor filming trip in May 2022, a fateful encounter with the world's future highest bridge, still under construction, inspired Xie to document the project from start to finish. From that moment, he would drive to the mountaintop at the construction site every month or two to capture its progress with his drone.
The completion of the bridge's main tower in early 2024 marked a turning point. Despite his family's reservations, Xie put all other work on hold and embarked on a dawn-to-dusk mission to faithfully document the bridge's final construction phases through all seasons. The breathtaking, and at times perilous, footage became a treasure trove of viral content for his online platform.
Currently, his account on Douyin, Chinese version of TikTok, has amassed 4.6 million likes, with his most popular video exceeding 70 million views. He has garnered a combined following of over 1.5 million across different social media platforms.
While filming the bridge, Xie nearly hiked every nearby hill and visited every village. "In my childhood, the journey here was a labored trek around mountains and rivers. Now, a chasm has been turned into a direct route," Xie said.
When he noticed numerous netizens asking about accommodation in the comments section of his bridge videos, he spotted a business opportunity. "So I came to Huajiang Village beneath the bridge, rented a local house, and began transforming it into a guesthouse," he said. "I had a feeling that tourism here would explode after the bridge opened to traffic."
According to Xie, the bridge's opening has triggered a complete revitalization of the village, with its tidy streets, landscaped gardens, and old buildings converted into guesthouses and folk restaurants.
"When they book, a lot of my followers say they're coming not only to see the bridge, but also to enjoy the extreme sports," he said.
After visiting the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, social media influencer Lin Xi was so impressed by its sheer scale that she decided to try the bridge's "Skywalk" experience. "This bridge is truly a marvel of human engineering," Lin said. "I'm really curious to find out what it feels like to walk more than 600 meters above the ground."
According to Xiao Youming, head of market development for the bridge's tourism integration project, more than 1,000 visitors successfully challenged themselves with high-altitude extreme activities, such as skywalk, bungee jumping and giant swing, during the National Day holiday alone.
In addition, the Geological Museum of Guizhou specially transported two marine paleontological fossils to the bridge for display. Through this geoscience popularization exhibition, the museum aims to demonstrate to the public the profound geological transformations this land has undergone over more than 200 million years. Over 50 types of cultural and creative products related to paleontological fossils were also exhibited here.
"During the eight-day National Day holiday, our sales reached over 50,000 yuan (about 7,040 U.S. dollars), with products like the glowing paleontological blind boxes selling out almost immediately," said Wei Qianru, who is in charge of the museum's cultural and creative operations.
According to the 2025 provincial government work report, Guizhou plans to accelerate the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge's role in integrating cultural, tourism, agricultural and sports industries.
"This is not merely a bridge, but a 'golden gateway' channeling vital flows of people, commerce, capital, and information into our locality," said Li Zuping, head of Zhenfeng County, where the bridge is located. ■
Visitors buy cultural and creative products designed by the Geological Museum of Guizhou at the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge in southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 4, 2025. (Geological Museum of Guizhou/Handout via Xinhua)
This long-exposure photo taken on Oct. 12, 2025 shows the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge under the starry sky in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)
This photo taken in November 2024 shows Xie Chaoqing, a local guesthouse owner, and his wife posing for a photo with the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge under construction in the background in southwest China's Guizhou Province. (Xinhua)
SOURCE/AUTHOR : XIN HUA NEWS
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