This diesel-powered ropeway is the only way to access Yushan village, a tiny community of 200 in southeast China.

“I started to work at this spot since the rope was set up. No one would take the job.”

Zhang Xinjian, who runs a tram using a diesel engine, that spans a yawning, 1,300-foot gorge in China, which once took villagers several days to hike around.

Today, the rope bridge is villagers’ primary way of ferrying food and supplies into their tiny mountain hamlet.

The crossing, which is more than 3,200 from cliff-face to cliff-face, was built in 1997 and has been manned by the same operator for 15 years.