Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Add Upworthy to your Google News feed.
Google News Button

A viral video from China has people questioning the laws of gravity—and then realizing it's all physics, skill, and a healthy dose of discipline. Posted on Xiaohongshu (also known as Rednote), the video shows a man inside a vividly colored pit, its vertical walls towering about 20 feet above him. There's seemingly no way out—until he starts running.

Don't try this at home.roar-assets-auto.rbl.ms



What happens next is astonishing. Within seconds, the man sprints in a perfect circle, using the momentum to climb higher and higher—until he’s out. It takes him less than ten seconds. The feat has stunned viewers around the world and inspired a deeper look into how such a thing is even possible.

Turns out, it wasn’t just a one-time adrenaline trick. It was a carefully executed combination of ancient martial arts, modern physics, and athletic excellence.

"Without some basics, you can't make it."

Meet Zhang Yije, a Beijing-based parkour athlete and sports blogger with 3.4 million followers on Rednote. He's not new to extreme challenges—he holds two Guinness World Records: one for the farthest distance cat leap to cat grab between walls, and another for the highest two-foot landing on a jogging pole using swinging inertia.

Obviously, Yije and death-defying stunts go way back.


@guinnessworldrecords

Farthest distance cat leap to cat grab (wall to wall) 🐈 3.30 m (10 ft 9.9 in) by Zhang Yijie 🇨🇳 ✨ #GWRday #parkour #guinnessworldrecords


In his post, shared on February 16, 2025, Yije included a brief intro before the stunt.

“The Bagua pit will subdue every stubborn person,” he begins. “It seems that you can't climb up this straight wall. So, we use rotational force like this.”

As he circles the inside of the structure, he calls out: “Coming up, don’t stop.” Then, after he climbs out and catches his breath, he laughs: “People with weak hearts are not allowed to watch this. So far, no woman has managed to come up.”


"People with weak hearts are not allowed to watch this. So far, no woman has managed to come up."

— Zhang Yije



So, what happened?

To understand what just happened, we have to go back—way back—to the teachings of Bagua, a Taoist system rooted in trigrams and energy flow. Bagua isn’t just spiritual; it forms the foundation of Baguazhang, or “Eight Trigram Palm,” a martial art that prioritizes fluid circular movement, footwork, and body awareness.

This represents the key to the perfect flow statePhoto by 嘲 风 on Unsplash


Practicing Baguazhang often involves a training method called circle walking, where students walk in perfect circular paths with intentional posture and breath control. Over time, it trains both the body and mind for balance, responsiveness, and presence.

When Yije ran inside the pit, he wasn’t just using physics—he was channeling a flow state deeply embedded in Baguazhang philosophy. The continuous movement in a circular path not only maintained momentum but synchronized his energy and awareness, allowing for fine-tuned adjustments.


The physics is where it gets even cooler

This pit isn’t unlike the “Wall of Death,” a stunt usually performed by motorcyclists who ride along vertical walls inside cylindrical structures. That same principle applies here: if you're moving fast enough in a circle, a force called centripetal force pulls you inward, which, in this case, means the runner presses against the wall with enough pressure to create friction.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

  • Centripetal force (F₍c₎ = m · v² / r): As Yije sped around the pit, the inward pull of this force kept him hugging the curve of the wall instead of falling.
  • Friction: As his momentum pushed him against the wall, friction kept him from slipping. That frictional force had to be strong enough to counter gravity, and it only works if he's moving fast and the wall has the right incline.
  • Wall design and speed: The pit’s precise slope and Yije’s pace worked together to let him ascend. If either had been off, the attempt would’ve failed.


"Without some basics, you can't make it."

— Zhang Yije

His background in martial arts made a big difference too. Those small shifts in posture and footwork? That’s classic Baguazhang training. Aligning the body with movement, adjusting for friction, controlling breath—every aspect played a role.

This stunt might look like a viral flex—and yeah, it is—but it also shows how centuries-old wisdom can intersect with physics in some seriously fascinating ways.


"The Bagua pit will subdue every stubborn person."

— Zhang Yije


The mix of tradition, athleticism, and science in Yije’s performance reminds us that the human body—when trained intentionally—can do things that look impossible. And while most of us won't be running up 20-foot walls anytime soon, it’s hard not to be inspired by what’s possible when movement meets mindfulness.

More For You

A young boy with a cutting edge bionic arm.

Images like this used to only come from movies, but they're becoming a reality.

via Open Bionics (used with permission)

Mom honors her loss by helping 3 children get bionic arms for Christmas

Think bionic arms are just the stuff of superhero movies? Think again. Thanks to an incredible blend of cutting-edge technology and the power of community, three children in the UK were given their new "life-changing" Hero Arms on December 12—just in time for Christmas. For Zoey Hampton-Pigeon (8), Finley Jarvis (11), and Ettie Baker (8), their new “Hero Arms” aren’t just cool gadgets—they’re life-changing miracles.

Their story is made possible by the Big Hero 3 campaign, a fundraising initiative started by mother Sarah Lockey, who launched the campaign to help families of children with missing limbs fundraise for bionic arms. This grassroots movement raised a total of £60,000 for the three children—£40,000 from the Open Bionics Foundation, The Worshipful Company of Glovers, Foresight Group, and an anonymous donor and an additional £20,000 raised collectively by the three families themselves.

Keep ReadingShow less

This throwback psychology test claims to reveal your hidden dark side

There are countless personality quizzes and psychology tests claiming to reveal truths about yourself. The Szondi test, for example, shows how our understanding of mental health has evolved. Developed by Hungarian psychiatrist Léopold Szondi in 1935, the Szondi test aimed to uncover suppressed traits hidden in a person's subconscious.

The test involved looking at a series of 48 photos of people with distinct expressions on their faces. The patient was supposed to pick the friendliest faces and the unfriendliest, the idea being that a person identifies with "like" people and that their choices from the pictures would represent traits of themselves. Despite lacking scientific value, a shortened version of this test recently went viral, capturing people's interest.

Keep ReadingShow less
climate change, reforestation, drone technology, Myanmar, seed missiles, mangrove trees, Biocarbon Engineering

Drones are firing seed pods to plant forests — and it’s actually working

Technology is the single greatest contributor to climate change but it may also soon be used to offset the damage we’ve done to our planet since the Industrial Age began. In September 2018, a project in Myanmar used drones to fire “seed missiles” into remote areas of the country where trees were not growing. Less than a year later, thousands of those seed missiles have sprouted into 20-inch mangrove saplings that could literally be a case study in how technology can be used to innovate our way out of the climate change crisis.

“We now have a case confirmed of what species we can plant and in what conditions,” Irina Fedorenko, co-founder of Biocarbon Engineering, told Fast Company. “We are now ready to scale up our planting and replicate this success.”

Keep ReadingShow less
The Himalayas on a clear day.

The towering Himalayas may seem unshakable, but deep beneath them, the Earth is shifting in ways scientists never expected.

The world’s most dangerous tectonic secret might lie under the Himalayas

The Himalayas, one of the most awe-inspiring mountain ranges on Earth, have long captured the imaginations of adventurers and scientists alike. Towering above the clouds, these colossal peaks hold not only breathtaking beauty but also crucial geological secrets. Recent research suggests something astonishing: the Indian tectonic plate—the very foundation of the Himalayas—may be splitting in two deep beneath the surface.

For millions of years, the Indian Plate has been pushing northward, colliding with the Eurasian Plate and giving rise to the Himalayas. But new findings from Stanford University geologist Simon L. Klemperer and his team indicate that this seemingly solid landmass is undergoing a dramatic transformation, one that could have significant implications for earthquakes and mountain stability in the region.

Keep ReadingShow less
A sea otter floating in a kelp bed.

Sea otters have come to the rescue on the coast of one California town.

Otters are wiping out all the crabs. Scientists say it’s saving the coast.

It is an established scientific fact that otters are adorable. They hold hands with fellow otters as they drift atop the water and use rocks to playfully crack open clams. Hermione's patronus is a sea otter! They're also voracious eaters, consuming about a quarter of their body weight daily. That last bit led them to become ecological superheroes in one California coastal town.

At Elkhorn Slough in California, a thriving population of southern sea otters has taken on an unlikely role: invasive species exterminators. According to USA Today, the otters’ voracious appetite for European green crabs, one of the West Coast’s most destructive invasive species, has nearly wiped the crabs out in the estuary. This has helped revive a delicate ecosystem that had been struggling for decades.

European green crabs, originally from Europe as you might have guessed, arrived on the West Coast in the 1980s and quickly became a menace. Though small—just four inches across—they wreak havoc on coastal ecosystems by devouring seagrass, baby crabs, and salmon while competing with native species. They’ve also caused significant damage to multimillion-dollar shellfish industries for Dungeness and king crabs.

Keep ReadingShow less