Heaven-Linking Avenue or the Big Gate Road

Apr 18, 2012 2 comments

Heaven-Linking Avenue, also known as the Big Gate Road, in Tianmen Mountain in the Hunan province of China as been called the “most dangerous” roads in China. Starting from 200 meters below sea level the serpentine road reaches 1300 meters above sea level making a total of 99 hair-pin turns along the way. In Chinese culture, 9 is considered a lucky number because it is believed that heaven has 9 places. A road with 99 turns symbolizes heaven, and hence the term Heaven-Linking Avenue or Avenue Towards Heaven.

The road took eight years to finish with work starting in 1998, and finishing in 2006.

If the road is a little too scary for you, there is an alternative. A cable car goes from of Zhangjiajie City to the top of Tianmen Mountain. The cableway is 7455 meters in length which makes it, as the Chinese claim, the longest cableway in the world.

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[via Kuriositas]

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