Bridge Over Trouble Yangtze

There is a famous bridge across the Yangtze River built in the 1960s. This bridge is unique in a way as it was built entirely by the effort of Chinese engineers with the help of local people using own resources at the time when technology was still not advance compared to the western nations and the nation was experiencing a revolution of a different kind, the Cultural Revolution.

During our tour to Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing in 2006, we visited this old bridge which is known as the Nanjing Changjiang Great Bridge ( 南京长江大桥), a double-deck road and rail bridge across the Yangtze River in Central China. The bridge was built during the Chinese Cultural Revolution entirely by Chinese engineers and peasants, after the Russians withdrew support and took away the design plans in 1960. The construction of the bridge was completed in 1968. On the sides of the top deck there are statues of soldiers crossing the river. It is the second bridge ever to span the Yangtze River. A highway bridge on the upper floor is 4,589 meters long, 15 meters wide. Four big cars can run shoulder by shoulder on this highway. In addition there is a more than 2-mete wide footway on both sides of the highway. A railway bridge on the lower floor is 6,772 meters long, 14 meters wide. This railway is double-tracked, which means that two trains can run to the opposite directions at the same time. There are 200 cast iron embossments on the balusters on each side of main bridge of the highway bridge. 150 pairs of elegant and purely white magnolia-flower-shape street lamps stand side by side. Every time when nightfall comes, those street lamps will light up at the same time, the scenery is spectacular. The bridge deck provides a good view of the river. It is possible to walk from one side of the bridge to the other.

The Nanjing Changjiang Bridge
 

Visitors can access the bridge from the Great Bridge Park to the north of Zhongshan Bei Lu. There are elevators taking tourists up to the decks which afford a great view not just of the murky and gargantuan river, but also of the bridge's structure and architecture.

My son in front of the bridge