Not too long ago, we did an article about some Chinese school kids who had to cross a raging river on a steel cable everyday to get to their school.
We got a lot of visibility for that article and after the story was broke, people began to make donations to help the village build a real bridge.
Six months later, a 170 x 2 meter bridge now exists across the Nujiang River, near where the kids used to cross by cable.
Looks like the school children can finally go to school without risking their lives or getting stuck for hours in the middle of that old steel cable.
(link)
Mui Mui is another of our wonderful, yet weird, editors who also is a well established world traveler. Born in Asia, Mui Mui is our expert on whether the articles we publish remain appropriate and not offensive in nature. Mui Mui’s favorite place is Italy where she spent 4 years and eventually fell in love with.
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Tom Steele
Plus you cleaned up the nasty river too! Way to go gang.
Aikyrie
Aw go weirdasianews. I can’t believe they had to cross the river like that! A school should have been built on the other side too!
anon
Right, because that makes financial sense. I would kill for a zip line to school!
Japanite
Truly Amazing.
anoni muss
wow it looked like so much fun. I wish I could zipline to school.
DARKWING DUCK
That’s not flying, that’s just falling with style.
“It’s not like driving the freeways of California. It’s dog-eat-dog out here. You have to have water and food and be ready for most anything to happen.â€
Warlock
I think that would be easier if the teachers would cross the river but not the kids…
Harry Robets
I personally would prefer the zip wire to school!
marshoutlaw
there are probably kids living on both sides of the river, so some kids have to cross regardless of which side the school is on…
grace
wooo i think swinging would be more fun. but wait. this makes it safer, how? THE SIDES OF THE BRIDGE ARE ALL EXPOSED, PEOPLE!!! LITTLE CHILDREN WILL FALL ALL OVERRRRRRR
Belle
what are you talking about the sides arent completely exsposed. cant you see the wires going across the sides in the pic with the little kid ringing the bell. i blame the school system. apparently you didnt have a bridge or a cable when you were growing up.
grace
p.s: oh wait, they hold onto bells, is that it? seriously!
Joyce
170 x 2 METERS? whoa. thats narrow…
romulus
They should Homeschool — Oh I forgot, that’s not allowed in China or California.
gee-man
Wow, that’s actually pretty cool. Who would’ve thought a site like this could end up getting a bridge built? Keep it up!
Nora
OMG STILL DANGEROUS i wouldnt let my kid cross by her/his self.. WOULD YOU ??
but it IS an UP GRADE! ♥
starvingbears
yahoo!!
crappy
Wow! Way to go! 😀
sultan_azteca
Now you took all the fun of going to school from all those kids. Check out the big smiles of the girls in pic no. 1!!! Way to go, WAN!!!
I demand the immediate reinstallation of the cable for the kids benefit, and the removal of the bridge. I also demand indemnization to the kids for the deprivaton of an exhilarating life while the bridge was in operation, causing permanent damages due to exposure to parental overprotectionist Gringo-style practices.
As for the bridge, I advice its relocation onto the rio Grande for Mexicans to cross the border safely into the States, and live Banda music on both sides of the bridge for their daily welcoming/farewell!
Uncle B
1 in 4 American school girls under 16 have STDs, ride to schools in SUVs and busses, and never get a steel cable ride across a raging river or a walk on a windblown catwalk to get to school, or even on a holiday. Maybe if getting to school was thrilling enough they wouldn’t have to thrill seek that other way?
Beth
Every little bit helps to change someone’s world.
psp
Photoshopped!
ry
Im not being a smartass here but why is the river water a completely different color in the before and after?
JW
Well, evidently someone did some cleanup work. Don’t be so cynical about a good thing happening.
EB
really? you’ve never seen a river after a rainfall? sediment is washed info the stream or river. must suck to live in a concrete jungle. if they barely had funds to make a bridge, how the h**l could they CLEAN UP A RIVER??? Get outdoors or something.
itsalljustaride
There could be a couple reasons. The river doesn’t look like it was dirty because of pollution or something. It’s moving too fast for that. Most likely the other picture was taken after a heavy rain or some other phenomenon that caused sediment buildup (maybe construction upriver, who knows), Beyond that, it could be lighting. A different camera angle or white balance could make an otherwise murky river seem not so murky. Not really a big deal. Most large rivers undergo cycles of sediment buildup by natural means. Some tributaries of the Amazon become so murky with sediment that when they hit the Amazon you can see a clearly distinguished line of muddy vs. non-muddy water. Actually, the faster a river is moving the more likely it is to be filled with sediment, since the stuff doesn’t have a chance to drift to the bottom.
That’s my amazingly too long answer to a simple question 🙂
adam
How did the get back when they had the zipline?
itsalljustaride
well, obviously they took the bridge, pfff what a silly question.
itsalljustaride
To anyone saying, “omg still so dangerous!” consider this: this river and the bridge now built may be a mile or so from the village, at least, so in that case I doubt kids are just going to be hanging out playing on the thing. Beyond that, a close look at the pictures shows that there is more than one guide-wire protecting the side. Could some kid still climb through and fall overboard…yeah, sure, Darwin Award winner in the making.
Adamneve
$300M to photoshop the opening ceremony but hairy barbarians have to donate a bridge for kids to go to school?
Mad Pierre
I’ve not had so much fun reading a really serious piece of work. ! Thanks America – You Do Have A Sense Of Humour(with a U)
natcaasi
I am guessing there was a bridge to begin with but it was destroyed in a flooding incident .. hence the difference in water colour …