ON THE RECORD

摘要

Chongqing, a city with a population of 32 million people, was part of the Xichuan Province in the mid-western region of China until about ten years ago, when it became an independent city with the same rank as a province. Most of Chongqing is mountainous and intersected by several big rivers: the Yangtze and the Jialing, which divide the metropolitan area, the Wujiang River and so on. Consequently, development of the area requires the construction of many major bridges. In 1981 the city's first major bridge, the First Shibanpo Bridge over the Yangtze River, was completed. This multi-span prestressed concrete girder bridge has a main span of 173m. Since then, dozens of bridges have been completed, and the city has numerous projects that are under construction or in the planning stage.