Newly-opened glass bridge on Yuntai Mountain shut for repairs after cracks found

Yuntai Mountain’s much-vaunted 2-week-old glass bridge in Henan province has been closed for repairs after cracks were discovered in one of the glass panels, causing a freak-out among tourists.

The post by Sina Weibo user Li Donghai, which has since been removed.

A man by the name of Li Donghai reports on Weibo that just before he reached the end of the bridge, he heard a loud thud, followed by vibrations which reverberated along the bridge. “As I looked below me, I realised that the glass panel had cracked,” he wrote. “I’m not sure what caused the crack, but there were people screaming that very moment and I yelled, ‘It’s shattered! It’s really shattered!” before pushing aside all the people in front of me to make my escape.”
Park officials have confirmed the cracks, adding that tourists were evacuated without incident and the bridge has been shut for repairs.
One park official tells the Global Times that a tourist appears to have dropped her steel cup on the bridge, causing one of the glass panels to crack.
The glass bridge, launched on September 20, is 260 metres long in its first phase of development. The cracks appeared on a 68-metre stretch of the bridge. Each square metre of the 2.7cm-thick glass pane is said to withstand a weight of more than 800kg. Two glass panes are used in the construction of the side railings and three panes for the floor of the bridge.
It remains unclear if the entire bridge has been shut or just the affected section, or when it will reopen again to members of the public.
Here’s a drone’s eye view of the 68-metre, U-shaped stretch of the bridge where the incident occurred.


The good news for adventurous travellers is that you can still go to China’s first high-altitude suspension bridge made of glass at Hunan’s Shiniuzhai National Geological Park. It withstood very rigorous testing by Golden Week crowds last week.

Tianmen Mountain’s newly-opened glass bridge also remains as yet uncracked.