<strong>Zigzag road: </strong>The 24-bend or zigzag road snakes up a mountainside in southwest China's Guizhou province.
Zigzag road: The 24-bend or zigzag road snakes up a mountainside in southwest China's Guizhou province.
Katie Hunt/CNN
<strong>Route to the past: </strong>No longer in active use save for a handful of tourists and the occasional local on a motorbike, today the road stands largely quiet. But the road has an intriguing history.
Route to the past: No longer in active use save for a handful of tourists and the occasional local on a motorbike, today the road stands largely quiet. But the road has an intriguing history.
Katie Hunt/CNN
<strong>Wartime role: </strong>A US convoy ascends the road on March 26, 1945, taking supplies to China's wartime capital Chongqing. This picture and others like it appeared in US magazines like Life and came to symbolize Chinese and US cooperation against Japanese occupation during World War II.
Wartime role: A US convoy ascends the road on March 26, 1945, taking supplies to China's wartime capital Chongqing. This picture and others like it appeared in US magazines like Life and came to symbolize Chinese and US cooperation against Japanese occupation during World War II.
Historical/Corbis Historical/Corbis via Getty Images
<strong>Losing the way:</strong> After the end of the war, the location of the road in the striking picture was lost to historians for decades.
Losing the way: After the end of the war, the location of the road in the striking picture was lost to historians for decades.
Katie Hunt/CNN
<strong>Found again:</strong> Ge Shuya, a Chinese historian based in Yunnan, <a href="index.php?page=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.chinadaily.com.cn%2Fchina%2F2008-09%2F22%2Fcontent_7047622.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank">located the road near the town of Qinglong in 1995. </a>Many thought it was in northern Myanmar or the neighboring province of Yunnan
Found again: Ge Shuya, a Chinese historian based in Yunnan, located the road near the town of Qinglong in 1995. Many thought it was in northern Myanmar or the neighboring province of Yunnan
Katie Hunt/CNN
<strong>Way markers:</strong> Each of the bends has a stone way marker. Authorities haven't asphalted the gravel road as they want to keep it in its original state.
Way markers: Each of the bends has a stone way marker. Authorities haven't asphalted the gravel road as they want to keep it in its original state.
Katie Hunt/CNN
<strong>New road:</strong> A new road with fewer switchbacks, seen here in the mountain mist, opened in 1954 displacing the 24-zigzag road from the few maps that existed.
New road: A new road with fewer switchbacks, seen here in the mountain mist, opened in 1954 displacing the 24-zigzag road from the few maps that existed.
Courtesy Guizhou Tourism Bureau
<strong>Best view: </strong>For now, anyone can drive or walk up and down the road. However, if you want the famous shot of the switchbacks from afar you have to buy a 60 yuan ($9) entrance ticket to access a viewing point.
Best view: For now, anyone can drive or walk up and down the road. However, if you want the famous shot of the switchbacks from afar you have to buy a 60 yuan ($9) entrance ticket to access a viewing point.
Katie Hunt/CNN
<strong>View point:</strong> A visitor center is being built at the viewing platform.
View point: A visitor center is being built at the viewing platform.
Katie Hunt/CNN
<strong>Smoking statue</strong><strong>: </strong>It has a statue based on this famous wartime photograph -- which shows a US soldier lighting the cigarette of a Chinese worker.
Smoking statue: It has a statue based on this famous wartime photograph -- which shows a US soldier lighting the cigarette of a Chinese worker.
U.S. National Archives and Records Office