Zhongshan Iron Bridge

Zhongshan Iron Bridge is located at the foot of Baitashan Hill and the middle section of Binhe Road in Lanzhou. It is a historic bridge erected 1907, known as the first bridge built on the Yellow River among those in the whole drainage area of the river in China. During the fourteenth century, there was a floating bridge here, called Zhenyuan Bridge, which served as an important link on the Silk Road. At the suggestion of Peng Yingjia, magistrate of Lanzhou Circuit, Shengyun, governor of Gansu, decided to build an iron bridge over the Yellow River with public fund. The project was contracted to a German firm. Construction began in February 1907 and was completed in June 1910. Thus, the floating bridge was replaced in 1907 by the present iron bridge, which was reinforced in 1954. Today, there are still 3 iron poles of the floating bridge, the 'General's Poles' left over from that period, which totally weigh for 10 t. with a length of 5.8 m for each. The iron bridge was first named the 'Lanzhou Yellow-River Iron Bridge' with the construction contracted by a German company and two foreign engineers (an American and a German) as the technical instructors. The bridge is 233.33 meters long and 7.5 meters wide. It is a five-arch bridge resting on five piers. In 1942, it was renamed as the Zhongshan Iron Bridge in memory of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and was reinforced in 1954.