page_title: Waibaidu Bridge
section_title: 2nd Waibaidu bridge (1907 to today)
hierarchical_section_title: Waibaidu Bridge / History / 2nd Waibaidu bridge (1907 to today)
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of Garden Bridge (also known as Wai Bai Du Bridge) at the intersection of Huang Pu Jiang River and Su Zhou He River, Shanghai, CHINA. Russian consulate to the right. Taken by Maocheng Hu at 11/13/2007 and released into the public domain.
context_page_description: The Waibaidu Bridge, called the Garden Bridge in English, is the first all-steel bridge, and the only surviving example of a camelback truss bridge, in China. The present bridge is the fourth Western-designed bridge built at its location since 1856, in the downstream of the estuary of the Suzhou Creek, near its confluence with the Huangpu River, adjacent to the Bund in central Shanghai. It connects the Huangpu and Hongkou districts and was opened on 20 January 1908. With its rich history and unique design the Waibaidu Bridge is one of the symbols of Shanghai. Its modern and industrial image may be regarded as the city's landmark bridge. On 15 February 1994 the Shanghai Municipal Government declared the bridge an example of Heritage Architecture, and one of the outstanding structures in Shanghai. In an ever-changing metropolis, the Waibaidu Bridge still remains a popular attraction, and one of the few constants in the city skyline.
context_section_description: The wooden Garden Bridge was demolished in 1906 and a new steel bridge was constructed to accommodate both trams and automobiles. This bridge was built under the supervision of the Shanghai Municipal Council, and imported the steel from England. This second "Waibadu Bridge" ("Garden Bridge"), was designed by the British firm Howarth Erskine Ltd. of Singapore. The Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company Co. Ltd. of Darlington, County Durham, England, who had built the Victoria Falls Bridge over the Zambezi River in Rhodesia the previous year, were responsible for building the bridge, which started on 4 August 1906. The bridge was completed on 29 December 1907. When it was opened on 20 January 1908, "it was the most substantial structure in China." It was the largest steel bridge in Shanghai and was the first steel truss bridge to be built in China, and is the only surviving example of a camelback truss bridge in the country. The bridge had a "total length was 104.39 metres, with 11.20 metres for vehicles and 2.9 metres on each side for pedestrians. The space between the bridge and the river reached a maximum of 5.57 metres at low ebb and 3.25 metres at high ebb." The bridge weighed 900 tons.
  According to Cranley, "The local governor (taotai in Wade–Giles) declined the SMC’s request for Chinese government investment in the construction of the new Garden Bridge, which replaced Wills Bridge in 1907. So residents of the Chinese municipality enjoyed free crossing of the Suzhou Creek from the 1870s thanks to the ratepayers of the International Settlement (a majority of whom were wealthy Chinese, who were taxed but did not have the right to representation on the SMC until the 1920s)."
caption: Garden Bridge and Broadway Mansion Hotel Shanghai.
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