{"id":4500,"date":"2025-10-29T13:11:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T13:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/?p=4500"},"modified":"2025-10-29T13:11:43","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T13:11:43","slug":"bridges-that-connect-a-window-into-chinas-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/?p=4500","title":{"rendered":"Bridges that connect: a window into China&#8217;s development"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Long Guoyi<\/p>\n<p>From towering mountains to boundless seas, bridges now span across China&#8217;s vast land, transforming once-isolated regions into seamlessly connected landscapes.\u00a0In recent months, a string of new bridges have come into service, drawing wide public attention.<\/p>\n<p>In southwest China&#8217;s Guizhou province, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, hailed as the world&#8217;s tallest and longest-span bridge, has become a new tourist attraction following its inauguration.<\/p>\n<p>In Badong county, central China&#8217;s Hubei province, the newly completed Yesanguan Bridge has shortened the travel distance between Yesanguan township and the Yesanguan railway station by approximately 10 kilometers.<\/p>\n<p>In Jilin city, northeast China&#8217;s Jilin province, the Hongqi Bridge spans the Songhua River, easing rush-hour congestion and improving urban mobility.<\/p>\n<p>Bridge by bridge, these monumental structures now stretch across rivers, lakes, seas, and valleys, linking mountain ranges and communities. Each serves not only as critical infrastructure but also as a powerful symbol of China&#8217;s economic and social progress.<\/p>\n<p>These record-breaking projects underscore China&#8217;s emphasis on self-reliance and technological innovation.\u00a0The Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link in the southern province of Guangdong, with a clearance of 91 meters above sea level, is now the world&#8217;s highest sea bridge.\u00a0The Aizhai Bridge in central China&#8217;s Hunan province has set multiple\u00a0world records, while the Tian&#8217;e Longtan Bridge in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region is the world&#8217;s first steel-reinforced concrete arch bridge exceeding 600 meters in span.<\/p>\n<p>Such engineering milestones have filled key technical gaps, established China&#8217;s own engineering standards, and strengthened a fully independent industrial chain. At the core of these achievements is a strategy-driven commitment to original scientific research and breakthrough innovation in critical technologies.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s bridge boom also reflects\u00a0the vibrancy of its vast domestic market. Each new bridge resolves logistical bottlenecks and enhances regional connectivity. Since its opening, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has repeatedly broken traffic records\u00a0and become a crucial artery of regional integration in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The total import and export value through Zhuhai port had exceeded 1 trillion yuan ($140.4 billion).<\/p>\n<p>The Changtai (Changzhou-Taizhou) Yangtze River Bridge in Jiangsu province has reduced travel time between Changzhou and Taizhou from 80 minutes to just 20, sharply increasing regional mobility. Within a month of its opening, cargo throughput at Changzhou&#8217;s Lu&#8217;anzhou Yangtze terminal recorded double-digit growth.<\/p>\n<p>By bringing regions closer together, these projects accelerate economic activity and reinforce efforts to create a unified national market.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond economics, China&#8217;s bridges\u00a0reflect a deep commitment to inclusive development. In remote areas, bridges link urban and rural communities, embodying the principle that &#8220;no one should be left behind on the road to socialism.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Over a decade ago, an iconic image captured two sisters crossing the roaring Nujiang River in Nujiang Lisu autonomous prefecture, southwest China&#8217;s Yunnan province, via a ropeway to reach school. That scene epitomized the challenges faced by remote communities. Today, with initiatives like &#8220;ropeways-to-bridges,&#8221;\u00a0such perilous crossings have been replaced. The completion of the Qiaoma Bridge transformed local access, enabling communities to pursue new development opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re living a life we never dared to dream of,&#8221; the sisters said. Each bridge serves as a passage to progress, transforming local landscapes, facilitating trade, and integrating remote communities into the national modernization process.<\/p>\n<p>Across the country, many bridges are under construction. As more of them open to traffic, they will continue to tell new stories of innovation, connection, and shared development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Long Guoyi From towering mountains to boundless seas, bridges now span across China&#8217;s vast land, transforming once-isolated regions into seamlessly connected landscapes.\u00a0In recent months, a string of new bridges have come into service, drawing wide public attention. In southwest China&#8217;s Guizhou province, the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, hailed as the world&#8217;s tallest and longest-span [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4505,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4500\/revisions\/4505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailytimes.net.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}