Cliffside marvel: Guoliang tunnel draws summer crowds to C China's Henan

The Guoliang tunnel, a legendary cliffside road hand-carved into a sheer rock wall in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province, is now a popular internet-famous destination bustling with summer visitors. (People's Daily Online/Song Fangxin)

The Guoliang tunnel, a legendary cliffside road hand-carved into a towering precipice in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province, is attracting a steady stream of tourists from near and far.

Built into a near-vertical cliff face in the depths of the Taihang Mountains, the engineering marvel offers breathtaking views of verdant mountain peaks.

It is both a feat of engineering and a turning point for Guoliang village, which was once isolated from the outside world and relied on a treacherous "ladder" dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) for villagers to descend the mountains.

In 1972, residents of Guoliang village resolved to change their fate. Armed only with hand tools—steel chisels and hammers—they began chiseling a road into the rock face.

After five years of grueling labor by 30,000 workers, 24,000 cubic meters of rock debris were removed, and a 1,250-meter tunnel built on a cliff 1,700 meters above sea level was finally completed.

Known today as the Guoliang tunnel, the road has given Guoliang village a new lease on life. With the Guoliang tunnel emerging as a popular tourist attraction, residents of Guoliang village have embarked on a path to prosperity by engaging in tourism-related services.

The gray-brown rock face of the Taihang Mountains resembles a massive barrier split by a giant axe, with the legendary cliffside road named the Guoliang tunnel embedded deep within its folds in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province. (Photo/Sun Nan)

As lights sweep across chisel marks in the legendary cliffside road named the Guoliang tunnel, located in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province, tourists' shadows cast against the cliff wall overlap with the traces left by villagers who carved the tunnel five decades ago. (People's Daily Online/Wang Pei)

Crowds of visitors fill the Guoliang tunnel, a legendary cliffside road hand-carved into a towering precipice in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province, during the peak summer tourist season. (Photo/Zhao Yun)

As lights sweep across chisel marks in the legendary cliffside road named the Guoliang tunnel, located in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province, tourists' shadows cast against the cliff wall overlap with the traces left by villagers who carved the tunnel five decades ago. (People's Daily Online/Wang Pei)

Warm lights outline the rugged contours of the cliff, highlighting the raw texture of the rock face in the Guoliang tunnel, a legendary cliffside road hand-carved into a towering precipice in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Shang Mingzhen)

At nightfall, the Guoliang tunnel, a legendary cliffside road hand-carved into a towering precipice in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province, is draped in deep blue, with beams of light spilling from 35 windows like stars scattered across the cliff. (People's Daily Online/Wang Pei)

The Guoliang tunnel, a legendary cliffside road hand-carved into a sheer rock wall in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province, is in its liveliest season, drawing crowds as a trending tourist attraction. (People's Daily Online/Song Fangxin)

After a midday rain, mist lingers in the Taihang Mountains as the legendary cliffside road named the Guoliang tunnel forms a stunning panorama with the lush peaks beyond in central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Shang Mingzhen)

The gray-brown rock face of the Taihang Mountains resembles a massive barrier split by a giant axe, with the legendary cliffside road named the Guoliang tunnel embedded deep within its folds in Guoliang village, Shayao township, Huixian city, central China's Henan Province. (People's Daily Online/Shang Mingzhen)