Zhongshan Bridge (Lanzhou)
The Zhongshan Bridge ( Chinese 中山桥 , Pinyin Zhongshan qiáo or 中山铁桥 , Zhongshan TIE qiáo - in "Zhongshan Iron Bridge") Lanzhou , the Chinese also "the first bridge over the Yellow River under heaven" called , is now considered a cultural monument . It was named after Sun Yat-sen using his nickname "Zhongshan", which is best known in China.
prehistory
For centuries, crossing the Yellow River in the city of Lanzhou, a trading center on the Silk Road , one of the most important trade routes in China, was only possible via a pontoon bridge . This was often damaged during floods and had to be dismantled every winter because of ice drifts. That often meant waiting days or even weeks on the banks of the river.
As part of the “self-strengthening movement” or “Westernization movement”, the aim of which was to modernize the empire of China based on the western model and was mainly operated by officials far from the imperial court since the middle of the 19th century, the first “iron bridge over the Yellow” was built River ”or the“ first solid bridge over the Yellow River ”, these are the two most frequently used names.
It was the mayor of Lanzhou City, Peng Yingjia, who was also the chairman of the "Gansu Bureau for Agriculture, Industry, Trade and Mining" (甘肃 农工商 矿 总局 Gānsù nónggōngshāng kuàng zǒngjú) who pushed ahead with the plan for a stable iron bridge build across the Yellow River.
With the help of Governor Sheng Yun, who was responsible for Shaanxi , Gansu and Xinjiang , and whom the Dowager Empress Cixi trusted, it was possible, against the intrigues and opposition of individual officials and Confucian zealots, to obtain state funds for the construction of the bridge.
realization
On October 10, 1906, the German trading company Telge & Schroeter [with the Chinese name "Tailai Yanghang" ] , which was then based in Tianjin , and Peng Yingjia signed a contract for the delivery of the bridge parts and other materials necessary for the construction. After much hesitation, a young American engineer with the Chinese name “Man Baoben” was hired to take over the management of the bridge construction on site and who then stayed in Lanzhou until the end of his life to ensure the maintenance of the bridge. In June 1907, the first prefabricated parts in Germany arrived at the port of Tianjin and were then transported 1700 km by land to Lanzhou, of which only 480 km by train, the rest with carts and pack animals. It took 19 months to get all of the materials to Lanzhou. Construction began in spring 1907 and lasted until July 1909.
“The bridge consisted of five boxes with a rectangular cross-section that rested on four pillars and the respective bank. The boxes were a frame framework with parallel straps, cross members and final struts. A box had 7 trusses, the struts of which fell towards the center and formed a cross in the middle truss. A classic "Pratt Truss Bridge" according to US nomenclature. All iron parts were held together by rivets. The bridge board consisted of wooden planks. The stone-built pillars and bank fortifications stand on concrete piles reinforced with steel. "
The contract guarantees a service life of 80 years for the 233 m long bridge. The planned costs of 165,000 tael silver had increased to almost double that - 306,600 tael silver - by the end of the construction work.
Special events
Although the bridge experienced and withstood several large floods, it had to be repaired and rebuilt several times. In 1919, due to the effects of the war, it was closed for an 11-day repair period. In 1942, the bridge was named "Zhongshan Bridge" in honor of the founder of the Republic of China , Sun Yat-sen (common name in China: Sun Zhongshan ), which it still bears today. After Lanzhou was taken by the People's Liberation Army on August 26, 1949, the bridge had to be freed from war damage again. The bridge was opened to traffic again on September 6th.
“Over the past 40 years, traffic over the bridge has increased tremendously. When the bridge was being planned, an increase in vehicle traffic was not even foreseeable. In order to adjust the bridge to this, the individual half-timbered boxes were spanned and reinforced with arches made of riveted iron framework. That is the reason why the bridge looks like an arch bridge at first glance. "
This measure increased the load-bearing capacity of the bridge to ten times its original value. To create more space for car traffic, the two 1.20 m wide footpaths that were still inside the box were widened to 2.10 m in 1990 and mostly relocated outside the box. In October 2004, the city administration decided to close the bridge to vehicle traffic and only open it to pedestrian traffic, but above all to keep the bridge as a monument. In 2010, the bridge was raised by 1.20 m in order to reduce obstacles to shipping. Since June 2011, it has also been open to car traffic again.
Zhongshan Bridge (2009)
Zhongshan Bridge (2009)
Zhongshan Bridge (2009)
Zhongshan Bridge (2009)
Today's meaning
“Today, the bridge is not only a technical monument that reminds us that it was the first permanent bridge over the Yellow River, but also a memorial for the first efforts to open up China, which only became a reality in the 1980s could. " recalled a plaque that built the city government of Lanzhou at the first silk road festival in 1992 at the south end of the bridge.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Zhongshan Bridge ( Memento from April 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ The Westernization Movement ( Memento of March 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Qing/qing-event.html
- ↑ a b KU Wei-Ying, Koen De Ridder, eds., Authentic Chinese christianity , page 48, Leuven University Press; Edition: illustrated edition (May 2001), ISBN 978-9058671028
- ↑ http://www.goens-pourbaix.be/multima-pourbaix/Mandarijn/pont/monic1.htm
- ↑ http://www.goens-pourbaix.be/multima-pourbaix/Mandarijn/pont/monic2.htm
- ↑ a b c http://www.china-entzüge.com/chinareisen-gansu05.htm (link not available)
- ↑ a b c d e 兰州 中山 桥 ( Memento from December 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c Chronicle ( Memento from August 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 36 ° 3 ′ 53 " N , 103 ° 48 ′ 52.3" E