How many bridges are there on the Yangtze River?
Reporter leaves
Speaking of the Yangtze River, what do you think of?
Is it the majestic aura of "rocks pierced through the sky, stormy waves hit the shore, and a thousand piles of snow" in the eyes of the ancients?
Or is it the wide-open scene of "solitary sails, far and blue sky, only the Yangtze River sky stream"?
Or is it the beautiful scenery of "the spring water of the Yangtze River is green and dyeable, and the lotus leaves are as big as money"?
In the answer of modern people, there are many bridges on the Yangtze River where "one bridge flies north and south, and the sky becomes a thoroughfare".
As the third largest river in the world, the Yangtze River originates from the roof of the world. It splits the snow-capped mountains, moisturizes the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, and rushes east to the sea.
"There used to be thousands of waves in the sea, and dared to build thousands of miles of bridges between rivers and rivers." Since the founding of New China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the country has carried out large-scale transportation facilities and water conservancy projects.
According to statistics from China Railway Bridge Bureau, the number of cross-river bridges built and under construction on the main stream of the Yangtze River (the section below Yibin) has exceeded 150.
The majestic span of the bridge like a rainbow makes the river more majestic; the scouring of the river day and night makes the bridge more stable.
The bridge and the river stare at each other and achieve each other's achievements.
It is "The Yangtze River is rolling eastward, and the Iron Dragon is proud of the present."
Transformation of the Great Wall
Until now, Zhao Yucheng, the 92-year-old former deputy chief engineer of the China Railway Bridge Bureau, would still stand on the balcony of his home, overlooking the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge he participated in the construction, and recalling those passionate years.
In the 1950s, Zhao Yucheng and bridge builders from all over the country gathered at the foot of Guishan Mountain in Hanyang.
At that time, the level of mechanization was not high. Everyone carried them on their shoulders and riveted them by hand to build the first railway and highway bridge on the Yangtze River.
Seeing the drawings of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge again, Mr. Zhao still clearly remembered that the steel beams of the bridge were closed at Pier 6.
"It's a pity that I can't walk anymore. I used to walk on the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge from Hanyang to Wuchang. I was very excited and proud!" Zhao Yucheng sighed.
There is also Yu Qixin, former deputy chief economist of China Railway Bridge Bureau, who is full of affection for the first bridge of the Yangtze River.
He told reporters that before the completion of the bridge, the only way to go from Hanyang to Wuchang is by ferry.
As soon as there was foggy weather, I saw a sign hanging on the terminal from a distance, which read: "Stopped today."
"In this case, we can only wait and wait there. It's really Wangjiang sigh."
"There are bridges that are a thousand distances away, and the water is a short distance away." On October 15, 1957, when the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge opened to traffic, Yu Qixin was already enrolled in Wuchang No. 1 Primary School.
As a representative of elementary school students, he participated in the celebration.
"At that time, many people walked across the bridge and cheered,'We have crossed the Yangtze River!' The whole Wuhan city is like a festival." Since then, the Beijing-Han Railway and the Guangdong-Han Railway have been connected, and the role of Wuhan's "nine provinces" has become more prominent.
More than 60 years have passed, and the “eldest son of the bridge of the Republic” still stands.
"Look at this bridge, it's still so majestic, so beautiful, amazing!" Yu Qixin said, you know, the "pipe column drilling method" used in the construction of the piers of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, and the "cantilever method" used in the splicing of steel beams. , Both were the first at the time.
In the 100-year memorabilia of the Communist Party of China released this year, two places are related to the Yangtze River Bridge.
In addition to the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the other is the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, which was opened to traffic on December 29, 1968.
Unlike the former with the help of Soviet experts, the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge was the largest road-rail bridge designed and built by the Chinese at that time, also known as the "Qiqi Bridge".
Opening roads in the mountains and building bridges in the face of water are a true portrayal of the working conditions of the bridge builders and a concentrated expression of the spirit of struggle of the Chinese nation.
"Reviewing the history of China's bridge construction on the Yangtze River, it can be divided into five stages: building a society, working hard, integrating into the market, catching up with the world, and leading the world." The completion of the bridge is the stage of completion of the society.
The construction of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge opened a new era in which our country relied on its own strength and worked hard to build large-scale bridges.
From 1978 to the end of the last century, bridge people were brave and good at innovation, and built the Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge and Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge and other cross-river bridges, actively integrating into the market and catching up with the world.
In the 21st century, from Wuhan Tianxingzhou Yangtze River Bridge, Nanjing Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge to Shanghai-Sutong Yangtze River Bridge, Wufengshan Yangtze River Bridge, etc., through continuous leaping and surpassing, China's bridge building level has begun to lead the world.
In the long years before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Yangtze River had no bridges for thousands of miles, and it was difficult to fly across the mountains and rivers. Nowadays, people say that there are hundreds of bridges on the Yangtze River.
In 1956, when Mao Zedong was inspecting Wuhan, he swam across the Yangtze River and saw the initial outline of the bridge. He wrote the famous sentence "One bridge flies north and south, and the sky becomes a thoroughfare".
As more and more river-crossing bridges are erected one after another, the Yangtze River is no longer a "trench", but a real "pass".
There are many stories about bridges
Among the more than 150 cross-river bridges on the main stream of the Yangtze River, according to the bridge type, they cover beam bridges, cable-stayed bridges, suspension bridges, arch bridges, etc.; according to functions, they cover road-rail bridges, railway bridges, and road-rail bridges. , Track bridge, pedestrian bridge, pipeline bridge, highway bridge, etc.
When the reporter asked which Yangtze River bridges were more representative, Ma Yonghong, assistant to the editor-in-chief of "Bridge Construction News", made a difficult decision: "There are too many bridges with characteristics and stories on the Yangtze River!"
From May to August 2017, Ma Yonghong participated in the "Ten Thousand Miles Yangtze River Bridge Tour" jointly organized by Hubei Daily Media Group and China Railway Bridge Bureau, from Shanghai along the Yangtze River to Yunnan Lijiang, which lasted 4 months and the mileage exceeded 20,000 kilometers. .
For the cross-river bridge visited on this road, Ma Yonghong knows all the treasures.
In the Sichuan section of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the river is clear and bright.
Good water makes good wine, and the aroma of wine permeates the city.
The water in the river becomes the raw material for wine making, and the bridge on the river is also inseparable from the wine.
In the east of Luzhou, there is simply a single-tower cable-stayed bridge named after the "1573 Yangtze River Bridge".
The bridge is 1573 meters long and 157.3 meters high. The connection with "1573" Qiongye is self-evident.
Not far downstream, there is an expressway bridge called "Huang Ha Yangtze River Bridge". Its piers are in the shape of wine glasses, full of the boldness and romance of "Golden Sake Sake Fighting Ten Thousands".
According to the division of the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River from Nanjinguan in Yichang to the estuary of Poyang Lake is the middle reaches of the Yangtze.
Counting the cross-river bridges in Hubei Province, starting from the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, all of them have extraordinary life experiences.
When the Xiling Yangtze River Bridge was completed, it was the largest-span suspension bridge in China and was known as the "First Span in Shenzhou"; the Yichang Yangtze River Bridge on the Yiwan Railway had the largest span among similar bridges in the world; when the Jingyue Yangtze River Bridge was completed, it was the world's largest span tower. For the cable-stayed bridge, the Sanbatan Bridge is the longest continuous girder bridge in China; the Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge with a main span of 1,700 meters is the world’s largest double-layer highway suspension bridge; the Naozhouzhou Yangtze River Bridge was the world’s The largest span three-tower four-span suspension bridge; the Erqi Yangtze River Bridge, the world's largest span three-tower cable-stayed bridge and the largest span composite girder cable-stayed bridge; when the Tianxingzhou Yangtze River Bridge was built, it surpassed the Danish Strait Bridge to become the world at that time The largest road-rail dual-use cable-stayed bridge; the south anchor foundation of Yangluo Yangtze River Bridge was once known as the "First Anchor in Shenzhou"...
Entering the lower reaches, the Yangtze River flows through four places in Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu and Shanghai.
As the river becomes more open, the difficulty of building bridges increases. Therefore, most of the bridges across the Yangtze River were built in the 21st century, and they have witnessed the leaps in China's bridge construction technology.
The Nanjing Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge is a cross-river passage shared by the Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway and the Shanghai-Hanrong Railway.
Wen Wusong, who participated in the construction, still remembers that this bridge created the world's four highest high-speed railway bridges with the largest volume, the largest span, the largest load, and the highest speed among the large-span high-speed railway bridges. Therefore, the traditional roof was abandoned at that time. The plan of closing the beams to the bridge was proposed by the China Railway Bridge Bureau to adjust the cables without the roof to drop the beams.
When the plan was put forward, many experts were skeptical, and foreign consulting experts even shook their heads and said "it is impossible."
"We are constantly questioning, perfecting and deepening the plan. The final successful closure of the bridge shows everything." Wen Wusong said.
Nine bridge experts including Itogaku, who was the chairman of the World Bridge Association and an honorary professor of the University of Tokyo, visited the Dashengguan Yangtze River Bridge and admired the bridge's underlying structure and steel beam erection technology.
Of course, the record has been refreshing.
The Shanghai-Sutong Yangtze River Bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 2020, marking that China's cable-stayed bridge construction technology has reached the world's highest level.
As it is close to the mouth of the Yangtze River, the main span of the bridge is 1092 meters, the main tower is 330 meters high, and the clearance is 62 meters, which can ensure unimpeded flow of 100,000-ton freighters.
The Wufengshan Yangtze River Bridge on the Lianzhen Railway, which opened to traffic in December last year, is China’s first to introduce a suspension bridge type on high-speed railways. The main span is also 1092 meters and one crosses the river.
The main cable used in the bridge has a diameter of 1.3 meters, which is currently the largest diameter main cable in the world. A single main cable has a pulling force of 90,000 tons, which is enough to lift 1.5 fully loaded aircraft carrier "Liaoning".
There is no precedent for these bridges on such a large scale at home and abroad.
It is precisely by virtue of independent innovation in new materials, new structures, new equipment, new technology, etc., that China's bridge construction level can lead the world.
Ma Yonghong mentioned that in addition to the famous large-scale river-crossing bridge, there are many rivers in the middle of the Yangtze River, and there are many branch rivers. This kind of river current situation makes the Jiajiang Bridge, also known as the branch river bridge, also have many bridges.
For example, Jiangsu Yangzhong City, which is composed of Taipingzhou, Central Sand, Leigong Island, and Xisha Island, is connected to the two banks by the Jiajiang Bridge, which has changed the situation in the solitary river.
Nice view on the bridge
From the bed sheets to the washbasin and kettle, from the pendant decoration to the teacup fan, all of them are printed with the pattern of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge-this is Ma Zhifang's cherished collection.
Ma Zhifang, who grew up in Nanjing, was inconvenient to go back to his hometown in Hebei every time he was a child.
After the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge was opened to traffic, it greatly facilitated transportation and became the city's name card of Nanjing. Since then, the bridge complex has been buried in Ma Zhifang's heart.
In the past 30 years, he has collected more than 1,000 pieces of Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge themed collections and displayed them in many cities across the country.
Ma Zhifang said that his wish is to set up a systematic Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge Museum. He hopes that more people can approach, understand and love the bridge.
Just as Ma Zhifang felt, once the bridge on the Yangtze River was completed, it became a landscape on the river and merged into the memories of generations.
When the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was completed, Wang Weimin, then director of the Hanyang Jianqiao New Village Police Station, became annoyed.
Many new children in families want to name them "Jianqiao", "Hanqiao", "Meiqiao", "Yanqiao" and "Love Bridge"... Although the staff has repeatedly persuaded that there are too many children with the same name in the same year, the same month, they will give Household registration has caused a lot of trouble, but in the telephone directory published that year, people with the same name and surname can still be seen on dozens or even dozens of pages.
Some people embed the bridge in the name, and someone put the bridge in the family album.
After the completion of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, for a time, a "bridge background" swept the country.
Background paintings of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge are hung in photo studios everywhere for people to take photos together.
Wang Zhiyang, an old photographer who worked at the "Red Guard Photo Studio" in Nanjing, remembers clearly, "Especially at the end of the year and before the Spring Festival, there are many people who come to take pictures. Some are taking pictures with friends, some with children, and some Family portrait..."
Today, going to the Yangtze River Bridge to take a photo is still a very ceremonial thing.
When the reporter was interviewing on the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in May this year, he met such a family.
Ten years ago, the first photo of the couple when they were together took the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge as the background. Ten years later, the couple revisited their hometown with their children and took a family portrait of the same background.
They said that after 20 years, 30 years, 40 years... they will come to the bridge to take family portraits.
Some people took photos with the bridge, and others took photos of the bridge.
In Chongqing, photographer Wu Chongshun photographed the Chaotianmen Bridge, Egongyan Bridge, Cuntan Bridge and other Yangtze River bridges and the builders; in Anhui, from the start of the test pile project of Wangdong Yangtze River Bridge in 2009 to the official opening to traffic in 2016, photography Teacher Wu Zhigui insisted on using the lens to record the bridge’s growth from scratch.
Whether it is the straightness of a beam bridge, the volley of a cable bridge, or the charm of a pontoon bridge, or the reflection of an arch bridge, as a fusion of practicality and art, the bridge has shown the subtle combination of engineering and aesthetics.
Bridge photographers, day after day, preserve the beauty of the bridge in the changing seasons, and also record the time when people and the bridge meet.
In addition to facilitating transportation and promoting economy, bridges have also become a way for people to get close to the water.
Go to the riverside area under the bridge to dance the square dance, go to the Qiaotou Park to spend the spring, go to see Mingyue climb the top of the bridge's tower... The bridge has greatly shortened the distance between people and water.
Nowadays, many Yangtze River bridges are specially built with non-motorized vehicle lanes, pedestrian sightseeing paths, and viewing platforms. They climb on foot and stand at the head of the bridge to see the endlessly rushing Yangtze River day and night. Feeling the breeze of the river and the warm water vapor, they can not help but send out Su Dongpo." But the breeze on the river, and the bright moon in the mountains, can be heard by ears, and made by sight, without restraint and inexhaustible use. It is the creator’s endless possession."
Bridges are opened to traffic, and Changhong flies over one by one. The bridges on the Yangtze River blend into people's memory, the texture of the city, and the scroll of nature.
Just as Mr. Mao Yisheng, the father of modern Chinese bridges, said: “The created bridge stays there and serves the people silently. It always completes its task consistently regardless of whether it is wind or rain, day or night. He I am not afraid of heavy burdens, or even overweight, as long as the typical is still there and the vitality is not hurt, I am happy to accept it. Although it is an artificial product, it stands on the ground and is no different from the landscape."