Saimaiti Aishan, a member of northwest China’s Uighur Muslim ethnic group who have practised tightrope walking – or ‘Dawazi’ – for centuries, set off carefully from one of the balloons floating 328 feet above the ground.

The scene was broadcast nationwide on state television while hundreds of spectators below in Shaoyang in China’s central Hunan province held their breath as the acrobat kept his balance on the 50-foot wire, wobbling precariously as the balloons drifted with the wind.

Earlier in the morning, Saimaiti Aishan had completed the same challenge at almost 100 feet off the ground in just five minutes.