Alice Han

They're making negative profit because they're trying to subsidize and compete with other makers.

So really interesting.

All right.

Let's take one last quick break.

Stay with us.

Welcome back.

In the rapidly growing area of Chongqing, a unique project has just been finished and turned on.

In what is being called the world's longest outdoor escalator system, the Wushan Goddess is a system of 21 escalators, eight elevators, four moving walkways, and two pedestrian bridges spanning over 905 meters in length and traversing an elevation gain of over 240 meters.

That's the equivalent of an approximately 80-story building.

The project took over four years and significant engineering prowess to complete.

Some 9,000 people now use the Wushan elevator every day, paying a small fee the equivalent of 43 cents.

that's in dollar terms, to ride in each direction, which can take 20 minutes.

An official said 450,000 people used it during last month's spring festival.

James, I've recently watched this on the FT.

I think the FT had a good piece on this.

And it's really dystopic, but in a good way.

It feels like you're on some kind of joyride.

It's kind of crazy.

It reminds me a little bit of a modern version of, you know, those Hong Kong escalators that you see in the mid-levels, central mid-levels.

You know, where people just can stand on them for 10, 15 minutes as they get to the top.