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China: Cliff-top village builds steel ladder for children to go to school

By Serenitie Wang and Katie Hunt, CNN

Updated 0433 GMT (1233 HKT) October 26, 2016

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A mountain village on a cliff in southwestern China has been building a huge steel ladder to connect it to the outside world.
Photos: Steel ladder to connect cliff-top Chinese village with outside world
A mountain village on a cliff in southwestern China has been building a huge steel ladder to connect it to the outside world.
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The village started to construct the ladder in August with an investment of 1 million yuan ($147,928) from local authorities.
Photos: Steel ladder to connect cliff-top Chinese village with outside world
The village started to construct the ladder in August with an investment of 1 million yuan ($147,928) from local authorities.
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School children had been forced to use unsteady vine ladders to reach their boarding school in the valley below.
Photos: Steel ladder to connect cliff-top Chinese village with outside world
School children had been forced to use unsteady vine ladders to reach their boarding school in the valley below.
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Pictures of 15 grade schoolers, some as young as six, making the two-hour odyssey to and from their boarding school <a href="http://cnn.com/2016/05/27/europe/china-children-education-climb">went viral earlier this year</a>.
Photos: Steel ladder to connect cliff-top Chinese village with outside world
Pictures of 15 grade schoolers, some as young as six, making the two-hour odyssey to and from their boarding school went viral earlier this year.
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With handrails and a more stable structure, it will also make the journey safer for villagers, who descend and climb the cliff each week to buy groceries and trade their products at the nearest market several miles away.
Photos: Steel ladder to connect cliff-top Chinese village with outside world
With handrails and a more stable structure, it will also make the journey safer for villagers, who descend and climb the cliff each week to buy groceries and trade their products at the nearest market several miles away.
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The isolated village of Atule'er is perched nearly 1,000 meters above the valley floor.
Photos: Steel ladder to connect cliff-top Chinese village with outside world
The isolated village of Atule'er is perched nearly 1,000 meters above the valley floor.
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(CNN)The world's most terrifying school run is about to get a little less hair raising.

In the mountains of southwest China's Sichuan province, a group of children must descend an 800-meter (half mile) cliff to reach their school.
Previously they used unsteady vine ladders to make the descent but now a steel ladder is being built to make the treacherous journey from the isolated cliff-top village of Atule'er easier.