Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge

The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is a 4-lane steel bridge in Nanjing that crosses the Yangtze River. It has two levels. The top level is a road for cars, buses, and trucks. There is also a sidewalk for people on foot. That part is 4588 meters or 15,052 feet long. The bottom level is a railroad for trains. That part is 6772 meters or 22,218 feet long. It is owned, paid for, and fixed by Nanjing's government and by the Shanghai Railway Bureau. Name The Mandarin Chinese name of the bridge is Nánjīng Chángjiāng Dàqiáo, which means "the Big Bridge across the Long River in the Southern Capital". (Chángjiāng or "Long River" is the Chinese name for the Yangtze River, and "Nanjing" means "Southern Capital".) It is written 南京長江大橋 in the traditional characters used by Chinese people on Taiwan and in Hong Kong and 南京长江大桥 in the simplified characters used by mainland China. History The Yangtze River is very big and very wide. During wars, people sometimes made pontoon bridges out of many boats. Most of the time, to go from one side to the other, people needed to use a ferry. This made things pretty slow and slowed the growth of China's economy. The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge was started in 1960. Both parts were finished and opened for use in late 1968. It was the 3rd bridge across the Yangtze River, after Wuhan's bridge and the Baishatuo Bridge near Chongqing. It is still important and a landmark in Nanjing because it was the first big bridge designed and built completely by Chinese people. It also has art from the Cultural Revolution. It is also infamous as the place with the most known suicides in the world. More than 2000 people have jumped off of the bridge since it was opened. Transport The road across the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is National Highway 104. The same road is also part of highways 205 and 312. The railroad across the bridge is the Beijing–Shanghai Railway. (This is the railroad for slow trains. The high-speed trains between Beijing and Shanghai use a different bridge.) The same railroad is also part of the Nanjing–Xi'an and Nanjing–Qidong Railways. It is also used for the Shanghai–Chengdu High-Speed Railway, but those trains can't go very fast across the bridge. Art The bridge was constructed under the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong. It is covered with his sayings and calligraphy (artistic handwriting). It also has statues and pictures of strong and passionate soldiers, workers, and farmers that go along with what the words say. There are also pictures of China's growing industry. Notes References