China invites reporter to take sledgehammer to its longest glass bridge to prove it's safe

The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon bridge, the world's highest and longest glass bridge, is set to open in Hunan, China, next month and its operators want to assure you it's safe.

This follows incidents like the Yuntaishan glass bridge in central China's Henan province cracking last September. 

To assuage fears, Zhangjiajie's makers invited BBC reporter Dan Simmons to carry out a safety test.

The test involves Simmons standing on top of an elevated glass panel — the same panels that make up the bridge — which was placed on the bridge and slamming a sledgehammer on it.

At Simmons' first swing, the top layer of the panel shows visible cracks. He was then encouraged to take a few more swings at the glass panel. Despite the precarious-looking cracks that showed up after several hits, the glass panel remained intact.

View of the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon bridge.

IMAGE: SHAO YING/IMAGINECHINA/AP

The bridge stretches for 430 metres between two cliffs and hovers 300 metres above ground. It is a scenic skywalk that's already racked up a bunch of world records even before it officially opened to the public.

Aerial view of the world's longest and highest glass-bottomed bridge.

IMAGE: SHAO YING/IMAGINECHINA/AP

Designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan, the bridge can hold 800 people at once and there are plans for it to be used as a fashion runway as well as a bungee jumping point.