The 430 metre long, six metre wide structure cost 22.5m yuan to build

The world’s “highest and longest” glass bottomed bridge has opened to the public in central China.

The 430 metre long, six metre wide structure connects two mountains in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province.

It cost 22.5 million yuan (£2.5million) to build, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

Designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan, visitors are able to peer down 300 metres to the ground through the transparent floor. Ninety nine panes make up the three layers of glass, which were smashed by men with sledgehammers in a publicity stunt to demonstrate their strength prior to the opening.

In a similar spectacle, an SUV was also driven across the bridge.

However, the structure’s capacity will be limited to 800 visitors per day.

Glass-bottomed bridges have been erected across China as a way to attract tourists. Architect Keith Brownlie told the BBC why they have such appeal: “It is the relationship between emotionally driven fear and the logical understanding of safety.

“These structures tread the boundary between those two contrasting senses and people like to challenge their rational mind in relation to their irrational fear.”