Thanks to Bill Schoerner (son of Otto Schoerner, mentioned in
this earlier post) for finding and passing on
this fascinating article about the construction of Zhongshan Bridge (
map). In the introduction Bing Chen (陈冰) writes:
"The bridge as metaphor for love, life and death – even an eternal gateway to Paradise - has long haunted the innermost depths of the human psyche. Many have become the stuff of legend and folktale - The River Kwai, San Lue Rey, ancient Rome’s Tiber bridge heroically defended against impossible odds by the republic’s first citizen hero Horatius, as immortalised by Thomas Babington Macaulay, to name but three.
The first iron bridge over the mighty Yellow River bids fair to join this legendary roll call."
Location: North end of Zhōngshān Lù (中山路), 300m north from the Xiguan Crossing (西关什字 Xīguān Shízì)
Buses: 9, 13, 15, 26, 105, 111, 112, 136, 139 and 142
1914 - FRANK MEYER
Frank Nicholas Meyer (1875-1918) was an explorer for the United States Department of Agriculture. He went on several expeditions to Europe, Russia and East Asia collecting specimens (this lemon was named after him, for example).
He was in Lanzhou in December 1914, and took this photo of Zhongshan Bridge (the arches were added in 1954, see page 6):
“Iron bridge over a ice choked river with buildings on the hills in the background”
The scene in 2009
Meyer noted that “the water from this river is drunk unfiltered and the waste of the city is deposited into this river again, thus making the people immune from intestinal diseases unless they should die before.”
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