Photo credit: China News Service
Wushan County residents in Chongqing, China can now easily enter and exit neighborhoods that used to require an hour of navigating steep slopes and tight roads. The Wushan Goddess Escalator finally opened its doors on February 17, 2026, just in the midst of Chinese New Year festivities.
The engineers behind the idea built the entire thing along the vertical axis of Goddess Avenue in the Gaotong area, all 905 meters long, with riders able to climb an astounding 242.14 meters from the bottom to the summit. To give you an idea, that is about equivalent to a skyscraper that is 80 stories tall. It consists of 21 escalators, 8 elevators, 4 moving walkways, 2 pedestrian bridges, and 2 overpasses all linked together to form a seamless trail that hugs the mountainside as you go.
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For years, locals in this part of Chongqing had to drag themselves up staircases or take the long way around on roads that pretty much followed the lay of the land, but that has all changed: the 20-minute journey that is now possible on this section means locals can go to work, run errands, and visit family without breaking a sweat. Tourists may now easily get to sites with views of Wu Gorge and the spectacular Three Gorges views. Not to mention the views on the way up, which are just as breathtaking as the ones from the bottom.
The construction crew was determined to get things properly in this notoriously steep city. Officials built the escalator with locals in mind, so it can handle all of the usual foot traffic while still running strong in poor weather and changing terrain. Riders are currently paying only 3 yuan (40 cents) to try it out during the trial phase. After that, they’ll take a closer look at how it performs in real-world scenarios and determine the final price.
This is a record-breaker, stretching farther and climbing higher than any other escalator in Chongqing, including the Crown Escalator in the city center. Its sheer length means it outperforms all other competitors to become the world’s longest outdoor escalator system, but what truly sets it apart is the combination of escalators, lifts, and walkways that follow the mountain contour rather than attempting to plough a straight line up the side.
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