In China’s Nizhuhe village, a 945-foot cliffside elevator has cut a dangerous 3-hour school journey to about 30 minutes

For children living in Nizhuhe village in southwest China, getting to school once involved far more than simply setting out for the day. The village lies deep within the Nizhu River Grand Canyon, where cliffs and narrow mountain paths separated homes from Guanzhai Village Primary School. A journey that could take around three hours on foot has now been reduced to roughly half an hour, thanks to a transport system built into the canyon itself. Students can travel by shuttle bus, rise hundreds of metres in a cliffside elevator, cross part of the canyon by cable car and then walk the final stretch to school. The latest addition is an even taller elevator, standing 288 metres, or about 945 feet, above the canyon floor. What began as a way to improve access for residents has also helped turn this remote mountain area into an increasingly busy tourist destination. For the pupils, the biggest change is the removal of the most dangerous part of the journey. Instead of navigating steep cliffside paths for hours, they can now make the commute through a series of engineered connections, making regular school attendance safer, faster and far more predictable.Why children in China’s Nizhuhe village once faced a dangerous school journeyNizhuhe village sits deep inside the Nizhu River Grand Canyon, near the border of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. Guanzhai Village Primary School is positioned much higher up, leaving children at the bottom of the canyon with a difficult route between home and the classroom. Before the new infrastructure was available, the shortest paths were steep, narrow and exposed. Some journeys took more than three hours each way, while reports have also described the round trip as taking close to six hours.The route was not simply a long walk. Children had to negotiate rocky ground, steep sections and paths beside the cliffs. Earlier attempts had been made to make the route safer, including cutting footholds into difficult sections, adding chains and building stone paths and railings. Even with those measures, getting to school remained a demanding part of everyday life. In 2025, Xinhua reported that student Chen Honghan had once considered leaving school because of the difficulty and danger of the journey.China’s Nizhu River Grand Canyon brings elevators and cable cars to the school routeThe first major change came with the development of the Nizhu River Grand Canyon scenic area. A 268-metre sightseeing elevator and an aerial cableway were put into operation in 2022, allowing local villagers to use the facilities free of charge. Instead of climbing the mountainside for hours, pupils could travel by a combination of transport systems that carried them rapidly out of the valley.The trip now involves several short stages rather than one exhausting climb. Children take a scenic shuttle for several minutes, transfer to the elevator and rise vertically by hundreds of metres before continuing by cable car. A final walk completes the route to school. According to the English news, Chen Honghan described the old journey to Xinhua: “Before, I had to carry my things and walk for three hours on mountain roads to get to school, and if I wasn't careful, I could easily slip and fall.”A second cliffside elevator transforms transport in China’s Nizhu River Grand CanyonThe latest development came in July 2026, when a second cliffside elevator known as Fuyao began operating at the canyon. At 288 metres high, it is roughly 945 feet and stands beside the earlier Qingyun elevator, which rises 268 metres. The two lifts form a dual-elevator system on the canyon wall, expanding transport capacity in an area that has also become a tourist destination.The newer lift is not simply a larger version of the first. China Daily reported that the Fuyao elevator is faster and more spacious, while its shaft extends 20 metres higher than the older installation. The new system is intended to ease pressure as visitor numbers increase, but its effect on residents is also practical. Schoolchildren can continue to use the cliffside route without having to depend on the old mountain paths for their daily journey.How Nizhuhe Grand Canyon’s elevators are transforming tourism and the local economyThe elevators were built as part of a wider effort to develop the Nizhuhe Grand Canyon as a scenic destination. That has given the infrastructure another role. What was once an isolated mountain settlement is now connected to a tourist attraction, with visitors using the elevators and cable cars to move through the canyon. The facilities are also helping residents reach the upper areas without taking the difficult cliff paths.The change has reached into the local economy. In 2024, Xinhua reported that the Nizhuhe Grand Canyon scenic area received about 300,000 visitors and generated nearly 20 million yuan in local revenue. Residents have opened snack shops, guesthouses, farmstays and other small businesses. One villager, Chen Yuqin, told Xinhua that her four-room guesthouse had reached annual gross earnings of as much as 500,000 yuan and that she planned to expand it to 20 rooms.Nizhuhe children see their hometown differently after the canyon’s transformationFor pupils, though, the main difference is much simpler. A route that once required hours of walking is now broken into a sequence of relatively short rides. The children still have to take a shuttle, board an elevator, change to a cable car and walk the final stretch, but the dangerous climb is no longer the central part of getting to class. Xinhua reported that parents in the village also organise a rota, with adults accompanying groups of children on their school journeys.The transformation has given the Nizhuhe children a very different view of the landscape they cross each day. Wang Jiao, a 10-year-old student quoted by Xinhua, said that riding the elevator made her realise how beautiful her hometown was. For the people who built the system, that shift was part of the idea from the beginning. Cai Xiong, chairman of Xuanwei Yatuo Tourism Development Co., Ltd., told Xinhua, “As a child growing up in the mountains, I never thought it was beautiful.”Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.