The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon bridge, the world's highest and longest glass bridge, is set to open in Hunan, China, next month and its operators want to assure you it's safe. 
 
 This follows incidents like the Yuntaishan glass bridge in central China's Henan province cracking last September. 
 
 To assuage fears, Zhangjiajie's makers invited BBC reporter Dan Simmons to carry out a safety test. 
 
 The test involves Simmons standing on top of an elevated glass panel — the same panels that make up the bridge — which was placed on the bridge and slamming a sledgehammer on it. 
 
 At Simmons' first swing, the top layer of the panel shows visible cracks. He was then encouraged to take a few more swings at the glass panel. Despite the precarious-looking cracks that showed up after several hits, the glass panel remained intact. 
 
 View of the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon bridge. Image: Shao ying/Imaginechina/ap 
 
 The bridge stretches for 430 metres between two cliffs and hovers 300 metres above ground. It is a scenic skywalk that's already racked up a bunch of world records even before it officially opened to the public. 
 
 Aerial view of the world's longest and highest glass-bottomed bridge. Image: Shao ying/Imaginechina/AP 
 
 Designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan, the bridge can hold 800 people at once and there are plans for it to be used as a fashion runway as well as a bungee jumping point. 
 
 Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments. ||||| Thrill-seeking tourists or those looking to overcome their fear of heights may be excited to know that the world's longest and highest glass-bottomed bridge will open this July in China. 
 
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 Visitors can walk across an enormous stretch of transparent panels over the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China. 
 
 The bridge is more than 1,400 feet long, a 20 feet wide, and nearly 1,000 feet above the ground, according to the China National Tourist Office. 
 
 VCG via Getty Images 
 
 Plans are also in the works to construct a bungee jump from the bridge, for those wishing for an even more terrifying adventure. 
 
 VCG via Getty Images 
 
 This infrastructure project is hopefully sturdier than China's last glass-bottomed overpass. 
 
 Another glass-bottomed bridge in China, soaring about 3,280 feet above sea-level, around a cliff on the Yuntai Mountain in the Henan province, reportedly cracked after a tourist dropped a thermos flask on one of the glass panels, Chinese media reported. ||||| World’s Longest &Highest Glass-bottom Bridge Opening in Zhangjiajie Share On: 
 
 This July, the world’s longest and highest glass-bottom bridge will debut in China, above the breathtaking scenery of Wulingyuan area. Located in Zhangjiajie, China – which was the inspiration for James Cameron’s movie Avatar – the bridge is nearly 1,000 feet above the ground, providing stunning panoramic views for those thrill-seekers willing to cross the bridge. The bridge spans more than 1,400 feet (the Grand Canyon Skywalk by comparison is only 69 feet long). It is 20 feet wide and can hold up to 800 people at once. Its transparent walkway is not only the largest of its kind ever built, but one of the most beautiful, with visibility over the top and sides, as well as through the bottom. The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Glass Bridge floats in harmony with the surrounding scenery and affords tourists incredible views of the nearby sandstone and quartz peaks, trees, and waterfalls. Plans are also in the works to introduce a bungee jump from the bridge in the coming months. It too will be the world’s highest once completed. 
 
 Back to China News > 
 
 China in the News Archive > ||||| Call it the crack heard round the world. The glass bridge suspended more than 590 feet in the air in one of China's national parks cracked last week and was closed for repairs. 
 
 Dozens of people were on the suspension bridge, called Haohan Qiao, or "Brave Man's Bridge," in Shiniuzhai National Geological Park on Oct. 5 when a panel of glass shattered, the New York Times reports. The tourist attraction opened Sept. 20. 
 
 Chinese officials say tourists on the bridge were never in any danger, according to the story. They say "only one of three layers of glass" in the walkway shattered. They didn't say why the panel cracked. 
 
 Still, posts on the Chinese social media site Weibo said some visitors were scared. 
 
 "When I was almost at the end (of the bridge) there was a sudden loud bang and a tremor beneath my feet," one woman said in a Washington Post story. 
 
 Photos of the shattered panel on Weibo turned up on Twitter too. 
 
 China's bridge isn't the only one to suffer a crack. Last year, a pane of a glass walkway at London's Tower Bridge was smashed after a tourist dropped a bottle of beer. No one was hurt in the incident, and the walkway remained open. 
 
 ALSO ||||| (CNN) Visitors hoping to walk on the world's highest and longest glass-bottomed bridge will have to hold their breath. 
 
 The record-breaking structure hanging over China's Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon has closed Friday, just 13 days after it opened to the public on August 20. 
 
 "We're overwhelmed by the volume of visitors," a spokesperson from the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon's marketing and sales department told CNN, explaining that the bridge was the main draw of the canyon. 
 
 He added that the capacity of the glass bridge was limited to 8,000 visitors per day, but total demand was 10 times as much. 
 
 The famous bridge also brought renewed interest to other scenic spots in the area. ||||| Grand Canyon Skywalk – Opened 2007 
 
 You’re standing on a platform made of glass. The rim of the Grand Canyon is 70 feet behind you. The other side of it is 3 miles in front of you. Then you dare to look down and see ………… nothing – nothing but 2,000 feet of air between you and the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Until recently, a sensation like this could only be experienced in dreams. But now, on the Hualapai Indian Reservation that is just East of Las Vegas, dreams and reality will meld into one with the Grand Canyon Skywalk. 
 
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 In addition to admission, visitors may purchase professional photographs of their visit to the Skywalk in the gift shop. Personal cameras -OR- Cell Phones are NOT allowed on the Skywalk itself; along with other personal property, they must be stored in a locker before entering the Skywalk. 
 
 Skywalk History & Engineering 
 
 Located at Grand Canyon West on the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the new Grand Canyon Skywalk opened to the public on March 28th, 2007. The structure, consisting of a U-shaped cantilevered glass walk jutting 70 feet past the rim of the Grand Canyon, was dreamt up by Las Vegas businessman David Jin while taking part in a Grand Canyon tour in 1996. With the help of Las Vegas design firm Lochsa Engineering, Jin’s creation will be sturdy enough to hold the weight of a dozen fully loaded 747’s, and strong enough to withstand winds up to 100mph. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin lead the first walkers on the Grand Canyon Glass Skywalk in a private ceremony on March 20th, 2007. 
 
 It is hoped that Grand Canyon West’s Skywalk Project will give an economic boost to the Hualapai Indian Tribe. Grand Canyon West, in development since 1988, offers Grand Canyon touring opportunities not available elsewhere, such as helicopter rides to the Colorado River, cowboy cookouts, horseback rides on the canyon rim and one-day Grand Canyon white water rafting trips. 
 
 The Most Watched Grand Canyon Skywalk Video 
 
 Grand Canyon West is located approximately 3 hours from Las Vegas, 6 hours from Phoenix or 4 to 5 hours from Grand Canyon’s South Rim. For complete driving directions to Grand Canyon Skywalk from Las Vegas – Click Here. 
 
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 A “pure helicopter” tour that’s pure excitement: experience ALL of your Grand Canyon flightseeing by helicopter! Fly from Boulder City to the bottom of the Grand Canyon for a relaxing pontoon boat cruise; back to the rimside to walk on the Grand Canyon Skywalk; Grand Canyon West ground tour, followed by return flight to Boulder City. Includes a light snack. 
 
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– People who stand on glass bridges shouldn't swing sledgehammers, right? Not so, says the Chinese government, at least when it comes to the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon bridge—the highest, longest glass bridge in the world, according to Mashable. In fact, the operators of the bridge allowed Dan Simmons of BBC Click to take a sledgehammer to the glass-bottom bridge that, per the China National Tourism Office, spans more than 1,400 feet (it points out the Grand Canyon Skywalk measures only 69) and is suspended some 1,000 feet above the ground. Simmons' first whack resulted in cracking to the top of a glass panel. But after a dozen blows, the lower two layers were unscathed. The stunt was an attempt to prove the safety of glass bridges after a glass-bottom skywalk in China was closed last year due to cracking that had tourists scrambling to get off of the more than 3,280-foot-high structure. The cracks to a glass panel were caused by a dropped thermos, per the South China Morning Post. The new bridge, which is 20 feet wide and capable of holding up to 800 people at once, is set to open to the public in July, per ABC, which adds that "those wishing for an even more terrifying adventure" may someday be able to bungee jump from the structure. (This fright-inducing glass tourist attraction is located in LA.)