Sky High In Shanghai - 101st Floor Window Cleaning

No room for vertigo: Left, two workers are suspended against the cityscape as they prepare for a shift on the 1,614ft skyscraper. Click to enlarge.

Tall order: The city sprawls out into the smog as one of the window cleaners readies his squeegee at the Shanghai World Financial Centre, China. Click to enlarge.

Yang Bo cleans a window outside the 94th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center March 26, 2012. Click to enlarge.

Sky high in Shanghai: Fearless window cleaners at work outside the 101st floor of the world's fourth-tallest building. The wacky workplace slogan of a thousand coffee mugs has never been more true: You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps. Outside the 101st floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center in China, window cleaners are shown preparing for their shift. More than 30 workers on the window-cleaning team of the supertall skyscraper work in pairs every day.

Top of the world: It takes a team of more than 30 cleaners, working in pairs every day, to keep the skyscraper looking its best. Click to enlarge.

They have to obtain a licence for high-rise operations and must not have high blood pressure or, naturally, suffer a fear of heights. They are not allowed items which could fall, such as mobile phones or wristwatches, and must stop working in heavy winds. The centre is the fourth-tallest building in the world, standing at 1,614ft. It opened in 2008 and houses the highest observation deck on Earth, while the Park Hyatt Shanghai, occupying the 79th to 93rd floors, is the world's second-highest hotel.

Nerves of steel: The Shanghai World Financial Center dwarfs the already huge buildings of China's biggest city. Click to enlarge.

The 1,614ft Shanghai World Financial Center in Lujiazui. Click to enlarge.

Two cleaners prepare for work outside the 101st floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center in Lujiazui. More than 30 workers on the window-cleaning team of the skyscraper work in pairs every day. The cleaners have to obtain a license for high-rise operations and must not have high blood pressure or, naturally, suffer a fear of heights. They are not allowed items which could fall, such as cell phones or wristwatches, and must stop work in medium to heavy winds.