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Hello Friends,
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| The most ancient stone bridge: Zhaozhou Bridge |
Zhaozhou Bridge is located 2.5 km south of Zhaozhou City, Hebei Province, commonly known as the big stone bridge. Either in structure technology or the architecture art, it has been listed in a very high position in world’s bridge history.
This is a shoulder-style single-hole stone arch bridge, about 64.4 meters long, firstly built in the Sui Dynasty (591-599 AD), so far with over 1600 years. Among existing ones, this is the earliest and best reserved arch bridge of whole China and of the world as well.
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| the heaviest stone components: Jiangdong Bridge |
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Talking about the bridge with large stone components, it should be always referred that Jiangdong Bridge, also known as "Tiger Bridge", keeps the records with the world’s heaviest stones. Located in Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, Jiangdong Bridge was once built in the early Southern Song Dynasty (AD1131-1162) in a presence of pontoon; it was then reconstructed with stone piers, pointed at the bottom and wide at the top. Spanning over the piers are huge stone beams, more than 100 tons in general. One of the biggest beams possesses a length of 22 meters, a width of 1.7 meters, and a thickness of 1.9 meters, weighing over 200 tons as the heaviest one of the world.
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| the longest bridge: Hangzhou Bay Bridge |
Runyang Yangtze River Bridge, a total length of 35.66 kilometers and the main spanning length up to 1490 meters, was once the longest bridge in China and also the world's third-largest long-span suspension bridge. However, in 2008, after the completion of Hangzhou Bay Bridge, a new record came out with a length of 36 kilometers.
With the total cost of 11.8 billion Yuan, Hangzhou Bay Bridge was built connecting the south and north shores of Hangzhou Bay, jointing Cixi (in Ningbo) and Zhapu (in Jiaxing) together, which also shortens 120km distance from Ningbo to Shanghai. The length of 36 kilometers exceeds the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and in US and the King Fahd Causeway in Bahrain, making the Hangzhou Bay Bridge the world's longest cross-sea bridge for the time.
Have a great week!
Xu Ying
The Chinese Voice Team
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