Tightrope walker to conquer Taishan Mountain

Tightrope walker Adili Wuxor will conquer the Qingtongxia Gorge in Ningxia from July 22 to 24 and Taishan Mountain in Shandong from September 9 to11 by high-wire walking into a new Guinness world record, according to a launching ceremony in the Great Hall of the People on May 28.

Adili will sky walk a 2,680-meter wire between the Peach Blossom Valley and Colorful Stone Creek in the Mount Taishan Scenic Spot and a 1,778-meter wire in Qingtongxia Gorge.

Yao Ting, director of the scenic spot, said that Dawaz, an ancient sport widespread among the Uygurs and a national intangible cultural heritage, includes the idea of conquest, which accords with the spirit of Taishan Mountain’s enterprising spirit.

Uyghur Adili Wuxor, nicknamed “Prince of the Tightrope”, is the sixth generation of a high-wire walking family from Xinjiang, Northwest China.

In 1997, Adili sky walked above the Yangtze River for 13 minutes and 48 seconds along a 640-meter wire at a height of 400 meters to match the feat of world Guinness record holder Jay Cochrane.

In 1998, he became a living icon in Uygur Dawaz when he set a new Guinness record by walking across China's famous Three Gorges in the shortest time-span.

In 2000 Adili walked a 1,399-meter wire, a record distance, between two apices of Hengshan Mountain, Hunan province. More records were to come. In 2002, he remained on a wire for 600 hours, wire walking for 123 hours and 48 minutes of them, at Beijing's Jinhai Lake. That feat broke Cochrane's 1981 mark of living on a wire for 21 days.

One year later, Adili set another Guinness record by walking along a 687 meter steel rope across the Chongqing Cliff in Southwest China at a record height of 662 meters above the ground.

Dawaz is the Uygur name for aerial tightrope walking. According to historical records and relics, this form of art has a history of at least 2,000 years.

Dawaz was introduced to the Central Plains in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) but has now vanished. In the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, only one family is still engaged in it. The first-generation Dawaz artist in this family began to practice the art more than 420 years ago.

Uygur Adili Wuxor is the sixth generation of a high-wire walking family from Xinjiang, Northwest China. [File photo]