Author: ABR Team

The Summer Palace in Beijing, China set a record of having the longest covered wooden corridor of the world. The corridor is 728 m long, snaking around the edge of Kunming Lake and was built by the Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799) as a birthday gift for his mother. Its most visible features are the palaces on the Longevity Hill, and a majestic 17-arch bridge, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.

Hangzhou Bay Bridge in China set a record for being the longest bridge spanning open sea in the world. It connects the two coastal cities of Ningbo and Jiaxing, traversing 36 km of open sea, The £860 million bridge was built to shorten the overland journey from Ningbo to Shanghai by 120 km, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.

Nanjing in China set a record for having the longest ancient city wall in the world. It had a wall over 35 km in circumference in the past, of which 25.091 km is still standing. Work on it began in 1366 AD, two years before the coronation of the Hongwu Emperor, and took 280,000 workers 21 years to complete, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.

The Giant Buddha of Leshan in Sichuan, China, set a record of being the tallest stone Buddha statue. It was carved out from a sandstone cliff measuring 71 m and three stories high. It was created in the 8th century to appease an angry water spirit at the confluence of three rivers, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.

The Space Post Office of Guangzhou, China, set a record for being the highest post office in a building.  The Post Office is on the 107th-floor observation deck of the Canton Tower, which also boasts of the highest outdoor observation deck, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.

The palace of the Manchu emperors in Beijing, China set a record for being the largest palace of the world. It has 980 buildings and 8,886 rooms, covers 72 hectares (equivalent to 134 football pitches), and hosted 24 rulers, up to and including the Last Emperor, Puyi, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.

Line 3 of the Chongqing Rail Transit system of China, set a record for being the longest monorail. It has been extended to 67.09 km, running past the airport in the north, through the city centre to the southern suburbs in China. In order to deal with the limited space and up to 100 m variation in the hilly terrain, it uses a “straddle-type” monorail system and carries a million passengers a day, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.

Gaoligong Tea Company of Tengchong, China, set a record of pressing the world’s largest block of compressed tea. This block of pu’er tea measuring 6.04 m high, 10.6 m round and weighing 42.6 tonnes was compressed in 37 days, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.

The grave of China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuang of China, set a record of having the largest group of life-sized statues.The Terracotta Army near the grave site has 6,000 warriors standing with officers and horses, covering an area of 56 sq km with thousands of other treasures, including dancers, wrestlers and an animal menagerie. Burned and looted in the unrest that toppled Qin Shihuang’s heir in 206 BC, the warriors were not discovered until 1974, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.

Japan has set the record for having the maximum vending machines per capita in the world. There are currently around four million units in Japan, as confirmed on May 18, 2023.