The Duge Beipan River Bridge carries the Hangzhou–Ruili Expressway across the Beipan River canyon on the border between Guizhou and Yunnan, rising 565 metres above the river below. Until late 2025, when a nearby new bridge took the title, it held the Guinness World Record for the highest bridge in the world. The towers reach 269 metres — taller than the Eiffel Tower — and the main span is 720 metres, making the bridge impressive by any measure beyond its raw height above the gorge.
The bridge is on an active expressway, but dedicated viewpoints on both the Guizhou and Yunnan sides allow access without driving across. The best view is from the Guizhou side, where the full profile of the cable-stayed span is visible with the canyon walls behind it. What the photographs don't convey is the silence of the viewpoint: the bridge is distant enough that no road noise carries, and what you see is an enormous structure hanging in mid-air above a gorge that appears bottomless in hazy weather.
The Beipan River visible from the bridge is a tributary of the Pearl River system, flowing south through gorges that were impenetrable enough to remain largely unmapped until road construction began in the 1990s. The bridge reveals this landscape by crossing it without touching it.
From Liupanshui, the bridge is about 60 kilometres by road. Taxis or private car hire is the practical option; there is no direct public transit to the viewpoints.