"Sky school bus" in mountainous southwest China province eases children's journey to school

Two towering elevators rising from the floor of a deep canyon in southwest China's Yunnan Province have slashed the school commute for village children from more than three hours to around 30 minutes, transforming what was once a grueling daily trek into a swift vertical ascent.

The elevators, dubbed the "sky school bus," serve the Nizhuhe Village at the bottom of the Nizhu River Grand Canyon and the Guanzhai Primary School perched atop the mountain. What separates them is a vertical drop of over 500 meters -- a gap that used to consume nearly half a day for students to navigate.

The two structures stand 268 meters and 288 meters tall respectively. The second, taller elevator began operating just a month ago, completing a transit link that has replaced an arduous mountain climb with a direct ride to the school gates.

"It turns what used to take hours into a journey of less than a minute. And it saves us so much energy, so we can focus and calm down to study," said Qian Jiahao, a primary school student.

For many people, it's hard to imagine the challenges local people once faced.

Going to school used to be an uneasy task. They had to climb steep cliffs and narrow trails like this one, a journey that could take at least three hours each way.

A major turning point came in 2022, when the local government began developing the canyon as a tourist destination as part of its poverty alleviation efforts. The project included construction of the first cliffside elevator.

For local villagers, the outside world is no longer beyond reach.

"The old trail was really hard to walk. There was mud and moss, so it was very slippery. Now, with the elevator, we save about three hours on the journey," said Wang Jiao, another primary school student.

The cable car completes the second leg of the journey. Farm produce can be transported out more easily, while tourists can travel in, creating new opportunities for villagers to earn a better living.

Thirty-six-year-old Chen Guanpeng is one of those benefiting from the change. After years of working in factories in major cities, he eventually returned home and opened a homestay. During peak holiday seasons, he says, the rooms are often fully booked.

"Back then, we mainly grew a little ginger, and at most, we could make 5,000 to 6,000 yuan (744 to 892 U.S. dollars) a year. Now, we can earn at least 300,000 to 400,000 yuan (44,644 to 59,526 U.S. dollars) in gross income a year. Life has really changed dramatically," said a local villager named Chen Guanpeng.

Today, local officials are aiming to better utilize modern infrastructure and unlock additional opportunities for villagers.

"We want to make the best possible use of idle resources and vacant houses, turning villagers' homes into guesthouses and these untapped resources into a major source of income for local residents," said Yang Jie, Communist Party secretary, the Puli Township Government in Xuanwei City.

From a treacherous cliffside trail to a "sky school bus," Nizhuhe's transformation reflects the country's push for rural revitalization -- ensuring that no one is left behind.

"Sky school bus" in mountainous southwest China province eases children's journey to school

Japanese scholars tracing Japan's wartime chemical weapons legacy say their research is a quest not just for historical truth, but for lessons that could help prevent future conflict.

Thursday marks the 81st anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

On Sept. 2, 1945, the Japanese government formally signed the Instrument of Surrender and accepted all the provisions of the Potsdam Proclamation, confirming the nature of the war of aggression launched by Japanese militarism. During the war, Japan produced poison gas, manufactured poison gas bombs, and trained personnel to engage in poison gas warfare in many places, and carried out poison gas warfare in many parts of China.

According to research of a Japanese scholar named Shinji Ito, the Sone plant, located in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, was responsible for filling artillery shells with toxic chemical agents and assembling poison gas bombs.

More than 80 years ago, the plant covered an area of 16.5 hectares, equivalent to about 23 standard football fields, making it a fairly complete military production area. According to the report, between 1938 and 1944, the Sone plant completed the loading of a total of 1,612,626 poison gas shells of various types. However, when Japan surrendered, only 90,000 poison gas shells remained. The vast majority of these transported poison gas shells were used on the Chinese battlefield.

According to Chinese foreign ministry, there are more than 2,000 cases of Japanese forces using chemical weapons in China, causing more than 200,000 Chinese military and civilian casualties. After Japan's defeat, in an attempt to cover up its crimes, a large number of chemical weapons were left behind in China, resulting in more than 2,000 casualties so far and posing a serious threat to Chinese people's lives and the ecological environment.

Kazuaki Harada, a Japanese scholar, has spent years investigating the production and use of chemical weapons by the former Imperial Japanese military. He has visited war-related sites across Japan and examined historical archives in an effort to reconstruct the truth behind Japan's large-scale chemical weapons manufacturing over eight decades ago. Harada emphasizes that his research is not merely an exercise in historical retrieval, but a critical endeavor to understand why humanity produces and deploys such cruel instruments of war -- and how the lessons of history might offer answers for preventing future conflict.

"If the intention wasn't to use poison gas, why build such a large-scale poison gas production facility in the first place? I think preserving it allows people to reflect on why humanity would do something so foolish. Ultimately, this poison gas has no real beneficial value. Is it acceptable to do anything to win a war?" Harada said.

Japanese researchers uncover history of Imperial Army's chemical weapons