A pair of cliffside lifts known locally as the “sky school bus” has cut a gruelling three-hour journey to school in southwestern China to just 30 minutes.
For children living at the bottom of the canyon, reaching school once meant climbing steep mountain paths across a vertical drop of more than 500 m. The lift and cableway system now carries them directly towards the clifftop.
Footage shows the Qingyun and Fuyao lifts climbing the sheer walls of the Nizhu River Grand Canyon in Xuanwei, Yunnan Province, as visitors explore the gorge below. Video by Viory
The 268-meter Qingyun lift opened in 2022.
A second, 288-m lift called Fuyao entered service this year, increasing capacity along the route. Local villagers and schoolchildren can use both lifts and the cableway free of charge, with a dedicated route for pupils traveling to and from school.
“We saw many of the old paths that children used to take in the past to get an education. It truly makes one sigh with emotion; despite such a difficult journey to school, they never backed down and kept moving forward. Just like the future of China, always moving forward,” one visitor said.
“You are born into a great era. You’ve made contributions to the development of this age. I hope the next generation will be even happier. I also hope you come home often and create better conditions for the development of our children,” another encouraged the youth.
Built as part of the canyon’s tourism development, the lifts now serve two very different passengers: visitors arriving for the views, and local children heading to class.
For pupils in the villages below, the “sky school bus” has turned a difficult mountain climb into a half-hour commute.