A Chinese villager has succeeded in a duet performance with French "Spiderman" Alan Robert to climb a mountain in central China's Hunan Province on Sunday.

Both were invited by the Zhangjiajie scenic spot management company to perform their stunt at a cave on top of the 1,518-meter-high Tianmen Mountain. But different from Robert, who climbed 200 meters high with bare hands, Su Xueli made stunt moves when descending from a 200-meter-long rope hanging from the top of the cave.

Although the one-hour-long ascent of daredevil Robert came at no surprise as it was similar to another feat he performed in the province five years ago, Su appeared a bit worried before the performance. "I had only done this with 50-meter-long ropes. It's a bold challenge for me, and it's more difficult and dangerous than ever," Su said.

The 54-year-old man honed mountain climbing skills in 20 years experience of picking Yan'er, a rare mushroom and tonic delicacy which usually grows on high mountains. He now makes a living by performing climbing stunts to tourists, after the mushroom picking was banned in 1998 to protect environment.

"I accepted (the company's) invitation because I want to show the local Chinese mountain-climbing skills to the spiderman," he said.

Robert is well-known for his exploits. In 1996, he climbed the Far East Finance Center in Hong Kong. According to media reports, it took him only 25 minutes to scale the tower's 48 stories. In 1998, he annoyed Japanese police by climbing the Sinjuku Center Building in Tokyo. The following year, he climbed the 443-meter-high Sears Tower in Chicago.

It is said that he has been arrested and fined more than 100 times for climbing buildings around the world.