China's 1st bridge museum opens in Wuhan

The first comprehensive bridge museum in China opened in Wuhan, Hubei province, on Dec 18. Through exquisite exhibitions and modern technology, the museum vividly reproduces the country's construction history of bridges since 1949 and demonstrates the achievements in bridge construction around the world.

The exhibition is divided into eight parts, including ancient Chinese bridges, modern Chinese bridges, world bridge exposition and bridge culture.

Stepping into an installation that replicates the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge during its construction phase, visitors can experience the construction scene in full swing and also see nearly 1,000 pieces related to the bridge collection, such as the rivets used by the builders as well as various manuscripts and design drawings of the bridge.

"During the renovation of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, we specifically asked to bring back the bridge's replaced items like deck railings and magnolia lamps," said Cheng Liling, director of the bridge museum. "These are not only historical witnesses, but also cultural and spiritual heritage."

In addition to the precious collections, the museum has models of famous bridges at home and abroad, including arch bridges, suspension bridges, cable-stayed bridges and many other types.

The museum also boasts a variety of modern equipment in the museum to form an interactive experience area. Visitors can wear virtual reality equipment to "drive" on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, or watch a special film about bridges in a five dimensional cinema.

According to Liu Ziming, president of the China Railway Bridge Bureau Group, China's bridge construction technology has reached the world's leading level.

The completion and opening of the bridge museum will further highlight China's bridges as a national name card, so that every visitor can fully feel the infinite charm of the history, culture and technology of bridges, said Liu.