Lying at the eastern end of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Guizhou is a mountainous province. Therefore, bridges are necessary for transport and for the local people to have easier access to the outside. But it is easier said than done, considering the terrain.

A Guizhou bridge
 is often a testament to human ingenuity, with the recently completed Pingtang Grand Bridge an exemplary example. 

In the Caodu River valley over two kilometers wide, in southern Guizhou, a highway project was started in 2016 by the Guizhou government to connect the two sides of the canyon. It is expected to reduce travel time between Pingtang and Luodian by well over half.

The multi-span cable-stayed bridge has a length of 2,100 meters (1,076 ft)  and a height of 328 meters (1,076 ft),

It has been a very, very difficult structure for construction. The engineers had to figure out how to construct the piers as high as the mountain peaks.

Ji Denggui, chief engineer of the Pingtang Grand Bridge project, said, "The average height of a man is 1.6 to 1.8 meters. Imagine you're 2.6 meters tall. It'd be impossible for you to find a pair of shoes in the market.
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Adding to the challenge is the karst topography surrounding this canyon. 
The narrow canyon walls make using existing machinery impossible. In a landscape as unforgiving as this, the only solution is human labor. 

But all these and many other challenges were finally overcome. 

It is not surprising that, of the world's 100 highest bridges, 46 are in Guizhou, earning the province the title, "World Museum of Bridges."

Once a land divided by its mountains, Guizhou has become a land connected by its bridges. 

To know more about Guizhou people's strong determination to communicate and connect with the outside world, please tune in to"Rediscovering China" at 10:30 a.m. BJT (02:30 GMT) this coming Sunday on CGTN to watch Dream on the Road, the second episode of the four-part documentary "China's Treasure": Guizhou, co-produced for the first time by Discovery Inc. and China Global Television Network (CGTN).