BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF BRIDGE

ENGINEERING IN CHINA
Bao-chun CHEN
Gui-han PENG

1. Introduction
Bridges can be characterized or classified in several ways, depending on the objective
of classification. In terms of its superstructure, bridges can be classified according to
material of construction, structural form, usage, deck type, etc. In this paper, two
kinds of classification are used. One is classification by its usage or function, which
will help us to have a good understand of construction, management, research and
education system of bridge engineering in China. In this classification it is generally
includes three main types: (1) Railway Bridge; (2) Highway Bridge; (3) Municipal
Bridge, as well as the other types. The other one classification is by structure, which
will be used in the last section of this paper for introduction of the bridges built in
China in recent.
1.1 Railway Bridge
Railway bridge is served for the train. Compared with highway and municipal bridges,
it has higher live loads and will endure larger vibration by the train and generally it
has much narrow width.
In China, the public railways are owned and controlled by government; the highest
management of the government is the Ministry of Railway in the State of
Councilthe Central Peoples Government.
In past, all of the affairs on railway belong to the Railway Ministry, from its plan,
construction, transportation, management, research, education, etc. There in absence
of relevant departments for railway affaires in local government in China, in other
words, the railway management system is own dependent system. It is a two or
three-tier system, under the Railway Ministry, there are some branch bureaus in first
level to rule and management a district railway system which can cover several
provinces according to the railway system.
With the innovation of the government and economic system in China from planning
to market, many functions related to railways have been peel off from the Railway
Ministry now.
Railway bridges are designed almost only by design institutes which once belonged to
the Railway Ministry, such as China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance and

Design Institute Company Limited, because the design license for the railway is
controlled and limited by the Railway Ministry. The special design codes for railway
bridges are also issued by the Ministry of Railway. All of the railway bridges have to
be built in accordance with the serial design and construction codes on railway
bridges and culverts.
Railway bridges are mainly constructed by companies once belonged to the Railway
Ministry. At present some other construction companies can have opportunity to take
part in the railway bridges construction, but the cases are very few. At present, the
super-large construction companies are peeled off from the Ministry of Railway and
under the control of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration
Commission of the State Council (SASAC), such as the Zhong-Tie Construction
Group Corporation Limited. However, they still have much relationship to the
Railway Ministry and its branches.
The students in the railway colleges generally will have job in railway system. Regard
on the bridge engineering, the railway bridge is the main studying object. Now some
railway colleges have been combined into other universities, such as the Changsha
Railway College to South-central University; some of them have been designated to
Ministry of Education or local government, such as the South-west Jiaotong
University and Beijin Jiaotong University.
Some of the railway research institutes have dependent from the Ministry of Railway
but the China Academy of Railway Sciences (CARS) is still scientific institute
directly under the management of the Ministry of Railway.
1.2 Highway Bridge
The highway bridge plays a very important role in highway and has a large percent of
all the bridges in China. Unlike the railway, highway belongs to local governments
instead of the Ministry of Transport in the central government. From province to
county, every government has a department on traffic bureau as one of the important
component and a highway bureau which will directly management the national trunk
highway in its district and provincial highway trunks.
There are also many highway design institutes, construction firms, research institutes
as well as highway colleges were once attributive to he Ministry of Transport at past
and most of them have peeled off it now, however, compared to railways, the
highways affaire is more open.
The licenses to design and built highway bridges are not so difficulty to get, compared
to those for the railway bridges. There are many design institutes and construction
companies have the license to design and built highway bridges.
Similarly as railway bridges, almost all of the highway bridges are also owned and
controlled by government and the series design and construction codes for highway
bridges issued by the Ministry of Transport should be followed for the highway
bridge.

1.3 Municipal Bridge

Municipal bridge is a bridge located in the urban of a city or town, serve as one part
of street or road of it, and sometime it is also called as city bridge. The main live load
in municipal bridge is the vehicles similar as in highway bridges. However, many
times the passages, bicycles as well as pipelines through them should be taken into
account and aesthetics has always been the focus in their design. Generally it needs
wider deck width than that of a highway bridge.
Because the main usage of a municipal bridge is also for the automobiles as that of the
highway, there are not a special design code system for its design, generally the
design of the municipal design will follow or reference to the design codes for
highway bridges.
The municipal bridges are important estates of a city and they are management by
Construction Bureau of the city which is one of the important departments of the local
government and also accepted the leader from the construction bureau in the upper
level government. In the central government, it is the Ministry of Housing and
Urban-Rural Development (Ministry of Construction). In a big city or a city with
many municipal bridges, the construction bureau may employ some staffs majoring in
bridge engineering. But in a small city, only the transportation bureau and the
highway management bureau have some staffs of bridge engineering. In this case,
when a municipal bridge is planed to be built, the bridge engineering expert will be
ordered to take charge for the construction of it tentatively whichever department they
are served for.
With the development and enlarge of the city or town area, a bridge once is in
highway will be a municipal bridge. In this case, the bridge is built by the
transportation bureau and will translate to be managed by the municipal bureau.
In the past, the design institutes belong to the governmental construction system are
strong in architectures and house buildings but weak in road and bridge. It is the same
for the construction firms, architecture colleges as well as research institutes. Only
some few large cities have their municipal design institutes, such as the Shanghai,
Beijing and Tianjin. Of course, most of them have dependent from the governments.
1.4 Other Bridge
In addition to railway, highway and municipal bridges, there are bridges with special
utilities, such as pedestrian bridges, airport runway bridges, pipeline bridges and
aqueduct bridges. According to different owner, we have also forest way bridges,
digging way bridges, hydropower station way bridges, etc.
And some combination function bridges can also be classed into other bridges, like
road-cum-rail way bridges. It is worth to mention that the first bridge cross over the
Yangtze River is a road-cum-rail way bridge, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge. It is
1670m long and 22.5m wide, and carries both railway in lower deck and highway
traffic in upper deck on nine continuous spans of steel trusses. The Wuhan Yangtze

River Bridge and the other three road-cum-rail way bridges over Yangtze River
present the highest prestige of railway bridges in China, among them, Nanjing
Yangtze River Bridge is also a steel truss bridge, Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge is a
steel truss bridge strengthened by arch with a main span of 216m and the Wuhu
Yangtze River Bridge is a truss stiffened cable-stayed bridge. These four bridges are
listed in Table 1 as No.1 to No.4.
2 Codes, Design, Construction and Management of Bridges
2.1 Design program
The design for bridge project is divided into two stages: preparatory work and design
work.
Preparatory work includes pre-feasible study and feasible study. In these study works,
the pre-feasible study report and the feasible study report should be provided as the
study results. The content and purpose of the pre-feasible study report are similar to
that of the feasible study report. However, the latter is described in more details. The
necessity and economic rationality of project should be included in pre-feasible report,
while the key issue in the feasible report should lay on the feasibility of engineering
and investment with the approval of pre-feasible study report. In a word, the
preparatory works focus on the necessity and feasibility of the bridge, and location,
scale and standard of the project should also be decided at this stage.
In China, public projects like large bridge and highway, railway are authorized by the
department of Development and Reform Mission in the government depends on the
estimated investment budget of the project. After the pre-feasible study is confirmed,
the project can be put into the construction plan, and continue its feasible study. The
design plan of the construction project will be compiled until the feasible report is
approved by the administrative departments, which is the basis for design work.
Three sub-stages are included in design work: preliminary design, technical design,
and design for construction. For the design of middle or small span bridge, the
sub-stage for technical design can be omitted. The design documents at each stage
should be examined and approved by the administrative department designated by the
government.
At the preliminary design stage, several critical points should be determined by the
design institute, including the bridge site, the load on bridge, and all the technical
requirements of the project according to the plan for design, and carry out the design
scheme of bridge on the basis of design criteria, such as the structure types and sizes,
construction scheme, and estimate -economic indicator.
A general bridge directly carries on construction design without technical design. But
for the new and complicated bridge, the technical design shall solve the overall or
detailed technical problems of bridge structure, such as the section, reinforcement,
structural detail, and bill of materials, etc. Sometimes, experimental research or
detailed calculation for key issues is carried out in this technical design stage. After

the technical design is approved, the design for construction can start related to
structural design, calculation, and construction details. It is not allowed to change the
section radically, but you can make some proper changes of the details, such as the
site of reinforcements.
The construction program of bridge should obey these design documents once it is
approved, which is the basis for the work at next stage.
2.2 Codes, Specification and Criteria for Bridges
Regarding the design of bridge, laws and regulations related to technological index,
and design specifications should be obeyed, which are issued by the state and
corresponding ministries. The standards and criterion for structure engineering can be
divided into the following four levels:
The first level: Comprehensive basic criteria, it is the unified standards formulated by
the state, which conducts the professional basic standards, for example, Unified
standard for reliability design of building structures (GB 50068-2001).
The second level: professional basic standards.
The third level: professional general standards.
The fourth level: professional special standards.
As mentioned in the last section, the codes for bridges in China can be classed as
three types according to the utility of the bridges, i.e., railway bridge, highway bridge
and municipal bridge.
2.2.1 Codes for railway bridges
All of the codes for railway bridges are issued by the Ministry of Railway. They can
be divided into codes for design, construction or fabrication and management.
There are five main codes for design of railway bridges.
(1) General code for design on Railway Bridge and culvert (TB10002.1-2005),
Chinese Railway Press, 2005.
(2) Code for design on reinforced and prestressed concrete structure of Railway
Bridge and culvert (TB10002.3-2005), Chinese Railway Press, 2005.
(3) Code for design on subsoil and foundation of Railway Bridge and culvert
(TB10002.5-2005), Chinese Railway Press, 2005.
(4) Code for design on concrete and block masonry structure of Railway Bridge
and culvert (TB10002.4-2005), Chinese Railway Press, 2005.
(5) Code for design on steel structure of Railway Bridge (TB10002.2-2005),
Chinese Railway Press, 2005.
Other codes for survey and special purpose for railway bridges are as follows:
(6) Code for survey and design on hydrology of railway engineering
(TB10017-99), Chinese Railway Press, 1999.
(7) Technical specifications for seismic appraisal and reinforcement of railway
bridge (TB10116-99), Chinese Railway Press, 1999.
(8) Pot rubber bearing of railway and culver engineering (TB/T 2331-2004),

Chinese Railway Press, 2004.

(9) Technical specification for flexible pier railway bridge (TB10052-97),
Chinese Railway Press, 1997.
(10) Code for hydro-geological investigation of railway engineering
(TB10049-2004), Chinese Railway Press, 2004.
Some codes for fabrication and construction of the railway bridge are listed as
follows:
(11) Code for fabrication of railway steel bridge (TB10212-98), Chinese
Railway Press, 1998.
(12) Standard for constructional quality acceptance of railway and culver
engineering (TB10415-2003), Chinese Railway Press, 2003.
(13) Safety rules for constructional technology of railway and culver
engineering (TBJ403-87), Chinese Railway Press, 1987.
(14) Regulations for railway bridge erection by girder-erecting machine
(TB10213-99), Chinese Railway Press, 1999.
(15) Code for technique on construction safety of railway engineering (Volume
one) (TB10401.1-2003), Chinese Railway Press, 2003.
(16) Code for technique on construction safety of railway engineering (Volume
two) (TB10401.2-2003), Chinese Railway Press, 2003.
(17) Technical specification of precast pre-tensioned prestressed concrete
simple-supported T-girders for railway bridges (TB/T2484-2005), Chinese Railway
Press, 2005.
(18) Technical specification of precast post-tensioned prestressed concrete
simple-supported T-girders for railway bridge (TB/T 3040-2005), Chinese Railway
Press, 2005.
(19) Protective painting of railway steel bridge (TB/T1527-2004), Chinese
Railway Press, 2004.
(20) Post-tensioned pre-cast concrete simple-supported girder for railway bridge
pro-stress (TB/T 2092-2003), Chinese Railway Press, 2003.
2.2.2 Codes for highway bridges
All of the codes for highway bridges are issued by the Ministry of Transport and they
can also be divided into codes for design, construction or fabrication and management
as the code for railway bridges.
There are five main codes for design of highway bridges, one general code and the
other four codes for bridges classed by material of construction of the bridges. The
current codes are revised from the version in 1985-1986 except the fifth one (Code for
Design of Highway Steel and Timber Structural Bridges and Culverts) which is still
under revise.
(1) General Code for Design of Highway Bridges and Culverts (JTG D60-2004),
China Communications Press, 2004.
(2) Code for Design of Highway Reinforced Concrete and Prestressed Concrete

Bridges and Culverts (JTG D62-2004), China Communications Press, 2004.

(3) Code for Design of Highway Masonry Bridges and Culverts (JTG D61-2005),
China Communications Press, 2005.
(4) Code for Design of Ground Base and Foundation of Highway Bridges and
Culverts (JTG D63-2007), China Communications Press, 2007.
(5) Code for Design of Highway Steel and Timber Structural Bridges and Culverts
(JTG 025-86), China Communications Press, 1986.
For designing highway bridges in China, loads are stipulated in General Code for
Design of Highway Bridges and Culverts (JTG D60-2004) published by China
National Ministry of Transport. The up-to-date code JTG D60-2004 (2004) was
published in 2004 to supersede the primary code JTJ 021-89 (1989). In JTJ 021-89,
four classes of truck train loads, i.e., Vehicle-over 20, Vehicle-20, Vehicle-15, and
Vehicle-10, were used as the standard traffic live loads. The number in the class
name indicates the gross weight of a truck, e.g., the truck weights approximately 20 t
(200 kN) in Vehicle-20. Fig. 1 shows the truck train load of Vehicle-over 20 and
Vehicle-20 in China JTJ 021-89. In JTG D60-2004, the system of truck train loadings
is superseded by equivalent lane loading, which consists of a uniform load
accompanied by a concentrated load. Equivalent lane loadings, Highway-I and
Highway-II (as shown in Fig. 2), are adopted to replace Vehicle-over 20, Vehicle-20,
and Vehicle-15. Vehicle-10 is abolished.
70 130

15

120

60

15

120

70 130

10

70 130

15

15

1.4

(a) Vehicle-20
70 130

70 130

15

70 130

30 120 140 140

120
10

3
1.4

10

70 130

15

15

1.4

(b) Vehicle-over 20
Fig. 1 Train Load of Vehicle -20 and Vehicle-over 20in China JTJ 021-89 (unitKN and
m)

Pk
qk

Fig. 2 Lane load in China JTG D60-2004

Note: For Highway-, the uniform load q k 10.5kN/mthe value of the concentrated load is
adopted as follows: when span L j 5m PK = 180kNwhen span L j 50m PK = 360kN
when span 5m L j 50m PK can be calculated by linear interpolation. The value of the
uniform load q k and the concentrated load PK for shear should be multiplied by a coefficient of
1.2.
For Highway-, the values of the uniform load q k and the concentrated load PK are
three-fourths (3/4) as heavy as those for Highway-.

Other codes for survey and special purpose for highway bridges are as follows:
(6) Hydrological Specifications for Survey and Design of Highway Engineering
(JTG C30-2002), China Communications Press, 2002.
(7) Standard for navigation of inland riverGB 50139-2004, China Planning
Press,2004.
(8) Specifications for Survey of Highway Engineering Geology (JTJ 064-98),
China Communications Press, 1999.
(9) Guidelines for Design of Highway Cable-stayed Bridge (JTG/T D65-01-2007),
China Communications Press, 2007.
(10) Guidelines for Seismic Design of Highway Bridge (JTG/T B02-01-2008),
China Communications Press, 2008.
(11) Wind-resistant Design Specification for Highway Bridges (JTG/T
D60-01-2004), China Communications Press, 2004.
(12) Plate type elastic-latex pad bearings for highway bridges (JT/T 663-2006),
China Communications Press, 2006.
(13) Code for Design of Highway and Transportation Safety Devices (JTJ
D81-2006), China Communications Press, 2006.
(14) Specifications for survey and design of highway bridge site (JTJ 062-91),
China Communications Press, 2004.
Some codes, specifications and guidelines for construction, quality control,
rehabilitation and management of the highway bridge are listed as follows:
(15) Technical Specifications for Construction of Highway Bridge and Culverts
(JTJ 041-2000), China Communications Press, 2000.
(16) Estimate and Budget Compilation Directions for Road Engineering Capital
Construction (JTG B06-2007), China Communications Press, 2007.
(17) Code for Construction Technique of Highway and Transportation Safety
Devices (JTJ F71-2006), China Communications Press, 2006.
(18) Code for Design and Construction Technique of Highway and Transportation
Safety Devices for Expressway (JTJ 074-94), China Communications Press, 1994.
(19) Standard for Inspection and Evaluation Quality of Highway (JTG
F80/1-2004), China Communications Press, 2004.
(20) Highway bridge expansion and contraction installation (JT/T 327-2004),
China Communications Press, 2004.
(21) Guidelines for Design of Highway Culvert (JTG/T D65-04-2007), China
Communications Press, 2007.

(22) Unified standard for reliability design of highway engineering structures

(GB/T 50283-1999), China Planning Press, 1999.
(23) Specifications for Strengthening Design of Highway Bridges (JTG/T
522-2008), China Communications Press, 2008.
(24) Code for Maintenance of Highway Bridges and Culverts (JTG H11-2004),
China Communications Press, 2004.
2.2.3 Codes for municipal bridges
There are only some special codes for municipal bridges. Besides these codes, the
codes for highway bridges should also be followed or taken as references in design
and construction of municipal bridges.
(1) Criteria of the Municipal Bridge Design (CJJ11-93), China Building Industry
Press, 1993.
(2) The Standard of Loadings for the Municipal Bridge Design (CJJ 77-98),
China Building Industry Press, 1998.
(3) Technical Specifications of Urban Pedestrian Overcrossing and Underpass
(CJJ 69-95), China Building Industry Press, 1995.
(4) Standard for Inspection and Evaluation Quality of Municipal Bridge (CJJ2
90), China Planning Press, 1990.
(5) Technical code of maintenance for city bridge (CJJ99-2003), China Building
Industry Press, 1990.
(6) Specifications for Survey of Municipal Engineering (CJJ56-94), China
Building Industry Press, 1994.
2.3 Main bridge design institutes
2.3.1 Design institutes in Railway system
The main design institutes, once owned Ministry of Railway, include China Railway
Major Bridge Reconnaissance and Design Institute Company Limited, China Railway
First Survey and Design Institute Group Ltd, as well as the Second to Fifth Survey
and Design Institute Group Ltd. And there are many design institutes for railway
belong to the trunk branch of the railway, such the Zhong-tie (China Railway)
Zhengzhou Survey and Design Institute Limited Consultation, Ji-nan Railway
Administration Survey and Design Institute, etc.
Among all of these design institutes and firms, the China Railway Major Bridge
Reconnaissance & Design Institute Co Ltd. (BRDI) is the largest and strongest design
institutes not only on railway bridges but also on other bridges.
BRDI was founded in 1950 especially to undertake the design of Wuhan Yangtze
River Bridge, the first bridge across Yangtze River. Not long after that, BRDI
surveyed and designed the famous Nanjing Yangtze river bridge. Then it developed as
a large specialized corporation for bridge reconnaissance and design. BRDI has

surveyed and designed more than 600 railway, highway, municipal and other major
bridges widely scattered all over China and more than 10 countries, of which 12
crossing seas and 18 over the Yangtze River, 26 over the Yellow River. Some
examples are listed in table 1.
Tab.1 Bridge designed by China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute Co ltd
No

photo

Info.
No

No

The first Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge,

3(3128)m continuous steel truss
bridge, completed in 1957
3

Info.
No

The First Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge,

3(3160)+128m steel truss bridge,
completed in 1969
4

photo

JiujiangYangtze River Bridge,

2(3162)+180+216+180+2126m steel
truss bridge, completed in 1995
5

photo

Info.
No

Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge,

(180+312+180)m , extradosed cable-stayed
bridge, completed in 2000
6

photo

Info.

Shantou Bay Suspension Bridge,

main span: 452m ,
completed in 1995

Info.

No

No

photo

Info.

photo

photo

Info.

No

Xiling Yangtze River Bridge,

main span: 900m , single span double hinge
steel box stiffening girder bridge, completed
in 1996
8

photo

Luojiaohe Highway suspension bridge,

main span:268m,
completed in 2000

Info.

Hongguang suspension bridge,

main span: 380m
under construction

No

photo

No

photo

Info.

Yiling Yangtze River Bridge,

2348m main spans, completed in 2001

Info.

No

11

No

photo

Info.
No

No

Qingzhou Minjiang River Bridge,

main span :605m, cable-stayed bridge with
composite girder , completed in 2002
13

Info.
No

Zhanjiang Bay bridge,

main span :480m, cable-stayed bridge with
steel box girder , under construction
14

photo

Heishipu Xiangjiang River bridge,

(144+162+144)m , CFST Arch Bridge,
completed in 2002
15

photo

Info.

Wuhan Baishazhou Yangtze River Bridge,

main span: 618m, cable-stayed bridge,
completed in 2000
12

photo

photo

Info.

10

Info.
No

Wanzhou Yangtze River Railway

bridge, 360m steel arch truss bridge,
under construction
16

photo

Qiandaohu Lake Bridge,

70+7105+70+40m, pc continuous
rigid frame bridge , under construction

Info.

Luzhou Yangtze River Bridge,

(83.95m+3144m+83.95) , pc continuous
rigid frame bridge, under construction

2.3.2 Design institutes in Highway system

The main design institutes, once owned by Ministry of Transport, include CCCC
Highway Consultants Co. Ltd, CCCC First Highway Consultants Co. Ltd, CCCC
Second Highway Consultants Co. Ltd, as well as CCCC First Harbor Consultants Co.
Ltd, CCCC Second to forth Harbor Consultants Co. Ltd, China Highway Engineering
Consultants Co. Ltd, CCCC Highway and Bridge Technology Consultants Co. Ltd,
etc., in which CCCC means China Communications Construction Corporation.
Addition to the CCCC series design institutes, each province has a design institute for
highway, such as the Design and Research Institute of Highway Planning and
Surveying of Sichuan, Communication Planning and Design Institute of Jiangsu
Province, etc.
CCCC Highway Consultants Co. Ltd, founded in 1954 and originally named as China
Communication Road Planning and Design Institute, became a company limited in
October 2006, a member company of China Communications Construction
Corporation (CCCC).
In the past more than 50 years, the company has designed about 100 large or grant
bridges independently, of which about 50 bridges across over the Yellow River,
Yangtze River or bay. The following projects won the state awards for high-quality
projects or Zhantianyou awards: Sutong Yangtze River, Humen bridge in Guangdong,
Tongling Yangtze River, Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge, Nanjing Second Yangtze
River Bridge, Nanjing Third Yangtze River Bridge, Luoxi Bridge in Guangdong, etc.
Table 2 shows some representative projects designed by the company.
No

Tab.2 Bridge designed by CCCC Highway Consultants Co. Ltd

1
No
2

photo

photo

Info.

Tongling Yangtze River Bridge,

(190+432+290)m, cable-stayed bridge,

Info.

No

completed in 1995
3

No

photo

Info.

Humen Bridge,
main span 888m , suspension bridge with
stiffened steel box, completed in 1997
4

photo

Jiangyin Yangtze river bridge, main span:

1385m , suspension bridge,
completed in 1999

Info.

Nanjing Second Yangtze river bridge,

main span :628m, cable-stayed bridge with
steel box girder, completed in 2001

No

photo

Info.
No

photo

Nanjing Third Yangtze river bridge,

main bridge :648m, cable-stayed bridge
with steel box girder and steel tower,
completed in 2005
7

photo

Info.

No

Info.

Sutong Yangtze River Bridge,

man span :1088m , cable-stayed bridge,
completed in 2008

No

photo

Hangzhou Bay Trans-oceanic Bridge,

main span of the north channel
bridge :448m. Cable-stayed bridge,
completed in 2008

Info.

Zhoushan Xihoumen Bridge, main span:

1650m , suspension bridge,
under construction

CCCC Second Highway Consultants Co. Ltd (for short: CCSHCC) is one of the top
highway engineering investigation, design and research institutes in China, which was
established in 1964.
The Company has carried out survey and design works for many long and super-long
bridges over Yangtze River, Yellow River, Han River, Gan River, Liao River and other
big rivers in China and abroad. Among them there are Erzhou-Huangshi Bridge over
Yangtze River in Hubei province (the worlds third longest cable-stayed bridge of its
kind); Yumenkou Bridge over Yellow River in Shanxi province; Siduhe Grand Bridge
of the Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway in Hubei province (firstly applying the
rocket-assisted cable-crossing technique); Daninghe Grand Bridge in the area of the
famous Three Gorges of Yangtze River; No.3 Feiyunshan Bridge in Zhejiang province
(side-girder cable stayed bridge with the longest culvert span among its kind in the
country), etc. Some representative bridges are shown in the Table 3.

No

Tab. 3 Bridge designed by CCCC Second Highway Consultants Co. Ltd

1
No
2

photo

Info.
No

photo

EHuang Yangtze Bridge,

(55+200+480+200+55m), cable-stayed
bridge, completed in2002
3

photo

Info.
No

No

LongmenYellow River Bridge,

(174+352+174m), suspension bridge,
cable-stayed bridge, completed in 2006
5

Info.
No

Longtanhe Grand Bridge,

(106+2003+106)m, PC continuous rigid
frame bridge , under construction
6

photo

Daninghe Bridge,
main bridge :400m, Arch bridge,
under construction
7

photo

Info.

No

Bachimen Bridge,
(90+2170+90)m , PC continuous frame
box girder bridge, completed in 2003
4

photo

photo

Info.

Info.

Info.
No

Zhijinghe Grand Bridge,

man span : 430 m , Arch bridge, under
construction
8

photo

Thuan Phuoc Bridge,

(125+405+125m), suspension bridge, under
construction

Info.

Siduhe Grand Bridge, main span: 900m ,

suspension bridge, under construction

Design and Research Institute of Highway Planning and Surveying of Sichuan,

founded in 1953, is one top design, scientific research institute among the provincial
highway design institutes in China. Holders of the national survey, design, surveying
and mapping, consulting, supervision and environmental impact assessment and other
class certificate, the existing 594 workers, of whom 101 senior and intermediate titles
of 184 people, the existing national, the Department (province) level of 15 experts .
The institute has made unique contribution to development of bridge engineering in
China, such as the first cable-stayed bridge in China, the world longest concrete arch
bridge and the longest concrete filled steel tubular arch bridge, as well as many large
bridges over the Yangtze River in upstream.
2.3.3 Design institutes in Municipal system and others
Only big cities have their Municipal Engineering Design institutes, like municipalities
of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and the capitals of each provinces and autonomous
regions.
Some of them have very big influence in the field of bridge engineering, for example,
Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design General Institute, Tianjin Municipal
Engineering Design and Research Institute.

No

Tab.4-4 Bridge designed by Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design General Institute

1
No
2

photo

Info.
No

photo

Nanpu Bridge,
Main span:423m, cable-stayed bridge,
completed in 1991
3

photo

Info.

Info.
No

Yangpu Bridge,
Main span:602m, cable-stayed bridge,
completed in 1993
4

photo

Rupu bridge, Main span:550m, Arch bridge,

completed in 2003

Info.

East sea Bridge, main span :420m ,

steel-concrete combined cable-stayed bridge,
completed in 2005

Shanghai Municipal Engineering Design General Institute (SMEDI) was founded in

1954, and is one of the earliest established municipal engineering design institutes in

China. In March 2008, SMEDI obtained the state engineering design comprehensive
qualification certificate Class A in the first batch of China.
The bridge engineering design specialty of SMEDI was founded in 1957. At the
beginning, there were only 15 professional technicians. After the pioneering work for
40 odd years, there are about 70 professional technicians, among them 30 senior
engineers including the professor senior engineers headed by the state class great
master of designer Mr. Lin Yuanpei.
Over 40 years, SMEDI has designed hundreds items of various bridge projects all
over China, including almost all type of bridge structures. Some famous bridges
designed by SMEDI, such as Shanghai Nanpu Bridge, Yangpu Bridge, Rupu Bridge,
are given in the Table 4.
There are many other design institutes which have the licenses and capacity to design
highway and municipal bridges, such as design institutes for architecture and planning,
for water conservancy and hydropower, for forest industry, for mining industry, etc.
2.4 Construction Companies
2.4.1 Construction Companies in Railway System
Against the backdrop of a macro reorganization, China Railway Group Limited
(China Railway) was established as a joint stock company with limited liability under
PRC law on September 12, 2007, with a registered capital of RMB 12.8 billion which
is 100% held by China Railway Engineering Corporation Group (CRECG). The
history of China Railway Group Limited can be traced back to the Construction
Bureau and the Design Bureau of the Ministry of Railways established in 1950.
Currently, China Railway is a super-large integrated construction group that
encompasses infrastructure construction, survey, design and consulting services,
engineering equipment and component manufacturing, property development and
other businesses.
China Railway Group Limited has 46 subsidiaries, including 28 wholly owned
subsidiaries, 15 holding subsidiaries, 4 branch companies and 3 joint venture
subsidiaries. In the year of 2005 and 2006, China Railway was listed as the forth and
third largest construction company in the world, respectively. In 2007, CRECG was
ranked 342nd in the Fortune Global 500 companies, and listed the 417th in the
Worlds 500 Most Influential Brands and the 13th in Chinas Top 500 Enterprises.
As one subsidiary of the CRECG, China Zhongtie Major Bridge Engineering Group
Co., Ltd. (MBEC) is the largest firm and at top 1 in China for construction of bridges.
It evolves from former Major Bridge Engineering Bureau, Ministry of Railways after
the ownership reform.
It is a state designated first grade construction enterprise that comprises scientific
research, survey and design, construction, machinery making and bridge manufacture,
construction supervision. The Group is placed the 12th among the largest and best 500

construction enterprises in China. The Group has been awarded the License for
Overseas Engineering Projects.
The group has designed and finalized more than 400 sets of bridges and more than
100 items of other projects at home and abroad, such as Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge,
Nanjia Yangtze River Bridge, Jiujiang Yantze River Bridge, Wuhu Yantze River
Bridge. Some projects in recent years are listed (see Table 5), which have been
completed or under construction.
No

Tab. 5 The Construction Projects of MBEC

No

photo

Info.
No

photo

Aodan Third Bridge,

(110+180+110m), cable-stayed bridge
3

photo

Info.
No

No

Info.
No

Fumin Bridge,
(89+242+89m), cable-stayed bridge
4

photo

Longmen Yellow river

bridge, (174+352+174 m), cable-stayed
bridge
5

photo

Info.

Info.

Lijiang Nanzhou Bridge,

total :328m, cable-stayed bridge

No

photo

Haixin Bridge,
total :1169m, cable-stayed bridge
7

Quanzhou Bridge,
(200+165m) , cable-stayed bridge

Info.
No

Kaifeng Yellow Second Bridge,

(85 +6140 +85), cable-stayed bridge
8

Bailu Bridge,

Main span:188m , arch bridge

No

photo

Info.
No

No

Caiyuanba bridge,
Main span:420m, arch bridge
11

Info.
No

Nachaokou bridge,
Main span:208m, arch bridge
12

photo

Dashengguan Yangtze River bridge,

(109.5+192+336+336+192+109.5)m,
arch bridge
13

photo

Info.

10

photo

photo

Info.

No

Info.

Yaojiang bridge,
Main span:180m, arch bridge

No

14

photo

Pingsheng Bridge,
Main span:350m, suspension bridge

Info.

Wanxin Bridge,
Main span:160m, suspension bridge

Other construction companies under the control of China Railway Group Limited,
from China Railway first Group Limited Co. Ltd to China Railway 24th Group
Limited Co. Ltd, have also built many various bridges not only in the railways but
also in highway and other roads.
2.4.2 Construction Companies in Highway System
In highway system, there is no a special construction majoring in bridge engineering
like MBEC in railway system, but there are several big construction enterprises for
construction of highway and waterway. Among them, the China Communications
Construction Company Ltd is the biggest one, which was established on October 8,
2006, with a registered capital of RMB 10.8 billion. It is a multinational company
which owns 37 solely-invested and share-holding subsidiary companies and 19 joint

stock companies.
The CCCC Second Highway Engineering Co Ltd, CCCC Second Harbor Engineering
Co Ltd are two major construction companies good at bridge construction owned and
controlled by China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC). They took
part in the construction of Sutong Yangtz River Bridge, Chongqing Chaotianmen
Yangtze River Bridge, Shanghai CHEC East Ocean Bridge Project, Hangzhou Bay
Bridge, etc., some of them are listed in Table 6.
No

Tab.6 Some Bridge built by CCCC

No

photo

Info.
No

photo

Junshan Bridge, Main span:460m,

cable-stayed bridge,2001
3

photo

Info.
No

No

Info.
No

Jinzhou Yangtze river Bridge, Main

span:500m, cable-stayed bridge,2002
4

photo

Anqing Yangtze river bridge, Main

span:510m, cable-stayed bridge,2004
5

photo

Info.

Info.
No

Nanjing Third Yangtze River Bridge,

Main span : 648 m, cable-stayed bridge,2005
6

photo

Sutong Yangtze river Bridge, Main

span :1088m, cable-stayed bridge, 2008
7

Info.
No

Hangzhou Bay Bridge,

Main span: 448m, cable-stayed bridge,2008
8

photo

photo

Edong Yangtze River Bridge,

Jingtan Bridge,

Info.

Main span:926m , cable-stayed bridge,

Info.

Main span:620m , cable-stayed bridge, under

No

under construction
9

No

construction
10

photo

Info.
No

photo

Jiangyin Yangtze River Highway Bridge,

Main span:1385m, suspension bridge, 1999
11

photo

Info.
No

No

No

Wuhan Yangluo Yangtze River Bridge, Main

span:1280m, suspension bridge, 2007
12

photo

Guizhou Balinghe River Bridge, Main

span:1564m, suspension bridge, under
construction
13

photo

Info.

Info.

Info.

Taizhou Bridge , Total span : 9726 m,

cable-stayed bridge, under construction

No

14

photo

Chongqing Chao Tian Men Yangtze River

Bridge, Main span:552m, arch bridge, under
construction
15

Info.

Mingzhou Bridge, Main span:450m, arch

bridge, under construction

No

16

photo

Info.

photo

Moshuihu Bridge, Total span:1614m, arch

bridge, under construction

Info.

Huanghai Bridge, Total span:6090m, girder

bridge, under construction

It is a big market for bridge construction in home of China. However, many

construction companies have also projects abroad. The China Road and Bridge
Corporation (CRBC) is a company majoring road and bridge construction projects
abroad, which is also a subsidiary of CCCC. CRBC has succeeded in constructing
many famous projects like the Fourth and Fifth Mosul Bridges in Iraq, the Friendship
Harbor in Mauritania, Malta Dry Dock (300,000 DWT), Suramadu Sea-Cross Bridge
in Indonesia, etc.
China Road and Bridge Construction Group International Construction Company
Limited (CRBC International Co. Ltd) is also a big construction company which has
built many famous bridges in China. It is a company listed on the Shanghai Stock
Exchange listing with a registered capital of 408 million RMB Yuan. It took part in
the construction of Xiamen Haicang Suspension Bridge, Shanghai East-China Sea
Bridge, the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, Siduhe Suspension Bridge in Shanghai-Chengdu
Expressway, the Shanghai Yangtze River Bridge, Jintang Bridge in Zhoushan Island
project, etc.
There are many road and bridge construction enterprises have background of
Department of Transport of its province or its city. Some of them are very good in
construction of bridges in one special structure types or various. For examples, the
Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group Corp has successfully built many
cable-stayed bridges, such as the Second Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge with a main
span of 628m, Dongting Lake Bridge in Hunan Province which is a three-pylon four
span cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 310m; Road and Bridge Construction
Group Corp in Sichuan, Guangxi and Guizhou are very good at construction of arch
bridges. They have built many long span arch bridges, including the longest concrete
arch bridges in the world--the Wanxian Yangtze River Bridge with a main span of
420m and the longest CFST arch bridgesthe Wuxia Yangtze River Bridge with a
span of 460m, as well as the Yajisha Bridge, the 4th Qianjiang Bridge, etc.
3

Education, Research, Academic Exchange and Publications

3.1 Education
3.1.1 Main Colleges
The professional higher-education of bridge engineering consists of undergraduate
and postgraduate education. Undergraduate education is the basis for training

professionals of high quality and versatility and postgraduate education aims to

nurture high-level professional talents of versatility and capability.
The colleges provided the education in bridge engineering can be classed as colleges
in railway system, highway system and general university.
Colleges with strong bridge engineering discipline in railway system are the
Southwest Jiaotong University, Central South University (Changsha Railway College),
Beijing (North) Jiaotong University, Lanzhou Jiaotong University (College), etc. They
once were owned and controlled by the Ministry of Railway and now are leaded by
the Ministry of Education or local provincial government.
Colleges with strong bridge engineering discipline in highway system are the
Changan University (Xian Highway College), Chongqing Jiaotong University
(College) and Changsha Tech University (Changsha Jiaotong College), etc.
Colleges with strong bridge engineering discipline in general university include
Tongji University, Fuzhou University, Southeast University, etc.
3.1.2 Main Courses
The degrees in China include bachelors degree, masters degree, or doctoral degree.
In China, in order to enter into college study, students after graduation from high
school should take part in and through the National Entrance Examination for
College.
For the undergraduate students, two majors issued by the Ministry of Education can
provide the courses in bridge engineering. One major is the Civil Engineering, which
is combined from Civil and Industrial Building Engineering, Bridge Engineering,
Highway and Bridge Engineering and other relative majors in 1999. At present, more
than 300 colleges have the major of Civil Engineering, some of them divided the
students in 3rd years into various directions, such as building engineering, bridge
engineering, underground structure engineering. The other major is Road, bridge and
River crossing engineering, which only appear in five colleges.
Tongji University, Southwest Jiatong University and some other colleges provide
bridge engineering, highway engineering separately as a discipline direction in the
civil engineering or in the major of Road, Bridge and River crossing engineering. The
major courses correspondence to bridge engineering generally include Structural
Design Principle, Bridge Engineering, Hydrology of Bridge Engineering,
Foundation of Bridge Engineering, Construction Techniques of Bridge, Steel
Bridge, etc. And the graduate design projects are all on bridge design.
Fuzhou University, Zhejiang University and others colleges provide transport
structure engineering as a discipline direction which including highway and bridge
engineering in a direction. In this direction, both the courses on highway and bridges
are included. Therefore, the courses on bridge engineering are less both in number and
in time compared with the discipline of bridge engineering as mentioned before.

Students with bachelors degrees may apply for admission to master's programs also
through a national examination, while students with a master's may apply for
doctorate programs. Generally speaking, it is four years of undergraduate study, two
and half to three years of masters study and three to five years of doctorate study for
whole time students. For postgraduate students both for Masters degree and phD
degree, the major name is Bridge and Tunnel Engineering.
3.1.3 Brief Introduction of Some Colleges
(1) Tongji University
Tongji University, located in Shanghai, is one of the leading universities directly
under the State Ministry of Education in China. Based on the first bridge and tunnel
major established by the state in 1952, the Department of Bridge Engineering have
masters, PhD programs of bridge and tunnel engineering, and wind engineering. The
department now registers over 400 students at all levels under the college of civil
engineering, among whom there are about 100 master degree candidates and 200
doctorial degree candidates.
The department is rich in expertise and resources. There are 87 staff members in the
department, 25 are full professors and 27 are associate professors. In addition, there
are two academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Xiang Haifang, who is a
pioneer of studying on wind resistance for bridges and served as vice chairman of
International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering, and academician Fan
Lichu, who is the deputy chairman of China Civil Engineering Society.
The department boasts world-first class facilities for its the boundary layer Wind
Tunnel Laboratory and Shaking Table Laboratory, which has been at an
internationally leading edge in terms of the scale of facilities and technology, have
undertaken a number of major research projects.
The department of bridge engineering has the traditionally advantageous bridge
engineering programs that are the oldest, strongest and most comprehensive in Tongji
University and in the whole China. Bridge and Tunnel Engineering is listed as the
State key programs. The department has obtained national and the provincial or
ministerial level scientific research achievement rewards about 50 items.
(2) Southwest Jiaotong University (SWJTU)
Southwest Jiaotong University was founded at Shanhaiguan in 1896, named as
Imperial Chinese Railway College, then Tangshan Jiaotong University. It once was
owned and control by the Ministry of Railway, China and now transferred to Ministry
of Education, but it has still very strong link with the railway system in China. Now it
is located in Chengdu, Sichuan Province,
Currently, the university has 18 schools, 3 departments and 2 divisions, with students
totaling more than 38000, teachers and staff over 3900.
Department of civil engineering is the only department when the university was built

in 1896. In 1990 the new college of civil engineering was established, including
department of road and railway engineering, department of bridge engineering, etc.
There are 57 staff members in the department of bridge engineering, 32 are full
professors and 13 are associate professors. The department has a national key
discipline of bridge and tunnel engineering, and confers doctorates. Some
academicians and master designers are emerging among the graduates, such as Mao
Yisheng, T. Y. Lin, etc.
In recent years, the department undertakes a good number of scientific research tasks
of design and construction for many large bridges, including Humen Bridge, Shantou
Bay Bridge, Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge and Nanjing Yangtze River Second Bridge,
etc. It won the first prize, and twice second prizes and third prize of Scientific
Development Award from the State. The colleges scientific research fund is growing
rapidly during resent years. It has reached 10,000,000 RMB every year.
(3) Central South University (CSU)
Central South University, located in Changsha, Hunan Province, is a comprehensive
and national key university under the direct administration of the Ministry of
Education in China. It was established in April, 2000 on the basis of the amalgamation
of the three former individual universities, namely Central South University of
Technology, Hunan Medical University and Changsha Railway College.
At present, the total number of full-time students in the university has reached more
than 50,000, including more than 15,700 graduates working for master's and doctoral
degrees, more than 33,000 undergraduates.
The college of civil and architecture engineering in the university comes from the
main parts of the original Changsha Railway College, which was once own and
controlled by the Ministry of Railway, China. The department of bridge engineering is
a key department in the college and has strong background of railway system. its
bridge and tunnel engineering is one of the five national key disciplines in this field
and it employs some renowned experts, including academician Zeng Qingyuan, who
presented a time-varying systems theory for analysis of bridge-train horizontal
vibration, put forward the research of ultimate stability capacity considering the
relevance of overall buckling with local buckling for large-span cable-stayed bridge,
tied arch bridge, plate-truss composite structure. The department have won the honor
of "Science and Technology Advancement Prize" awarded by the state for many
times.
(4) Hunan University
Hunan University, located also in Changsha, Hunan Province, is a key university
affiliated with China Ministry of Education and included in China 211 Project and
985 Project. It has 30 colleges, a staff of over 4500 and a student body of 30,000, of
which are 9600 of post-graduate students.
College of Civil Engineering is one of the key colleges in the university, has

department of bridge engineering, department of civil engineering, etc. College

employed 198 staffs, has more than 2700 students, of whom more than 700
post-graduate students. The college has a wind-tunnel laboratory and other structural
laboratory. The bridge engineering has long history and is famous in China.
(5) Fuzhou University
Fuzhou University, founded in 1958, located in Fuzhou, Fujian Province (South east
of China, the west coast of Taiwan) is one of the national key universities that are
selected into the 211 Project, a Chinese government programme for the 21st century
to support 100 selected universities for their further rapid development. It is a key
comprehensive university in Fujian Province. The year 2008 is witnessing the 50th
anniversary of the founding of Fuzhou University.
In the University, there are 19 colleges mainly for undergraduate education. At present,
there is an enrollment of more than 26,000 full-time students, including
approximately 4,000 doctoral and masters degree students. The active staff working
for the University is over 3,200 people, including over 1,700 full-time teachers.
The College of Civil Engineering was founded in 1959. At present, there are about
2000 students studying in this college, including about 1760 undergraduate students
and about 300 post-graduated students. At present, about 100 full-time academics and
faculties work for the college. Bridge engineering is one of the key disciplines in this
college. The college has a key laboratory of structural engineering in Fujian Province
and a three table system of Shaking Table Laboratory is under construction.
(6) Chang'an University
Chang'an University, located in Xian, Shaanxi Province, is a national "211 Project"
universities, was combined from Xi'an Jiaotong University (owned by Ministry of
Transport, China), Xi'an Engineering College, Northwest the merger of Architecture
and Civil Engineering.
It has 20 teaching College (Department), with more than 29,000 students. College of
Highway Engineering is one of the key colleges in the university, which now has five
departments, 201 faculty members.
The college has the Shaanxi Province Key Laboratory of Highway Bridge and
Tunnel", which focus on the research works in the bridge structure theory, evaluation
and reinforcement of bridge structures, bridges and other construction control study.
The college has the Wind-tunnel Laboratory which has a construction area of 1600
square meters, built and put into use in 2004.
3.2 Research Institutes
Many research projects and works are conducted in the universities, including
theoretical research and application research, and monitoring of construction, load
tests, appraisal of bridge engineering. Some design institutes and construction
companies also do some research work on bridge structures and construction

techniques. The special research institutes on bridge engineering are few.

Bridge Science Research Institute Ltd. is one of them. It formerly was own by the
Ministry of Railways, founded in 1959, and now is a member enterprise of China
Zhongtie Major Bridge Engineering Group Co. Ltd.
It is currently engaged in technical work and services in research of bridge the new
structure, new materials and new construction methods and calculation of the
theoretical study; inspection and testing of bridge engineering both in materials and
structures; inspection, appraisal or evaluation, rehabilitation and strengthening of
bridges; bridge structural vibration control measures, bridge construction monitoring
and so on.
The company publishes two very famous journals on bridge engineering, one is the
Bridge Construction and the other is the World Bridges.
Bridge engineering generally is also a main research project in some the research
institutes once own by Ministry of Railway and Ministry of Transport.
China Academy of Railway Sciences (CARS) is the largest and oldest railway science
research institute in China. It was established 50 years ago and is directly controlled
by the Ministry of Railway from then on.
Since its establishment, CARS has undertaken several thousand scientific research
topics, including railway bridge engineering.
CARS also provide the education programs for postgraduate students for master and
phD degrees on railway engineering, including the bridge and tunnel engineering
since 1978. CARS publishes twelve kinds of academic and technical publications
(including two internal publications). CARS actively strengthens the international
cooperation and exchanges as well as extends cooperation fields.
In Highway system, the Research Institute of Highway is only one research institution
directly under the Ministry of Transport. The research works are mainly engaged in
roads, bridges, traffic engineering, intelligent transportation, highway transportation
and so on. It has more than a thousand employees at present and has a road traffic test
site rank in the top one in Asia.
Similar as Bridge Science Research Institute Ltd., it also conducts the research and
service of bridge engineering, especially on the inspection, appraisal or evaluation,
rehabilitation and strengthening of bridges. However, it puts more concern on
highway bridges. The Journal of Highway and Transportation Research and
Development published by the institute is one of the major journal in highway
engineering.
3.3 Academic Exchange (Societies of bridge engineering)
In China, the engineer societies generally have strong link and background of the
government. The main societies including the bridge engineering and the relative
government in China are China Railway Society related to the Ministry of Railway;

China Highway Society related to Ministry of Transport; China Civil Society related
to Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (Ministry of Construction).
The presidents of the societies generally are retired ministers or vice ministers.
3.3.1 Bridge and Structural Engineering Subcommittee, China Civil Engineering
Society
China Civil Engineering Society is a national mass society for all engineers and
experts on civil engineering. There are 13 subcommittees, Bridge and Structural
Engineering is one of them. The society is the sponsor and editor of the China Civil
Engineering Journal, which is the most important journal on civil engineering and
was published monthly. Besides this journal, the society takes part in edition of 12
other journals, such as modern tunneling technology, Chinese Journal of
Geotechnical Engineering, Building Structure.
Bridge and Structural Engineering Subcommittee in China Civil Engineering Society
was founded in 1956, and is the largest special society on bridge engineering in China.
The members come from all fields of bridge engineering as well as structural
engineering all over the China, including highway system, railway system, municipal
system, etc. The secretary is set in Tongji University. Prof. Li Guohao, Fan Lichu, was
once served as its chairman.
Now the subcommittee has joined the International Association for Bridge and
Structural Engineering (IABSE) as the Chinese Group of IABSE and Prof. Xiang
Haifan is the present chairman who is also the vice president of IABSE.
The Subcommittee organized the national conference of bridges Biennial, which is
one of the most influential conferences in the field of bridges in China. The 18th
national conference of bridges was successfully held in Tianjin in May, 2008 with the
topic of strengthening innovation and stressing on aesthetics. Tab. 7 is a list of all the
conferences with its date and topics.
Tab.7 The national conferences on bridges organized by Bridge and Structural Engineering Subcommittee
of China Civil Engineering Society
No.

Date

Place

Theme and Objective

Number of
Persons

Number
of Papers

Background project

1979.7

Jiujiang

Academic lecture

136

109

Jiujiang Bridge

1981.6

Jinan

Prestressed concrete
cable-stayed bridge

176

91

Yellow Bridge

1982.1

Beijing

Bridge and structure

engineering

180

110

1983.12

Guangzhou

Long span bridges

229

77

1984.12

Chongqing

Bridge structure
modeling

84

56

1985.11

Wuxi

Bridge foundation
engineering

124

62

1987.10

Huairou

Reliability for structure

engineering

93

66

1988.5

Guangzhou

Bridge and structure

engineering

151

66

Rongqi Bridge, Shakou

Bridge, etc

Luoxi Bridge, Jiujiang

Bridge, Haiyin
Bridge,etc.

1990.4

Hangzhou

10

1992.11

Wuhan

11

1994.12

Shantou

12

1996.11

Guangzhou

13

1998.11

Shanghai

14

2000.11

Nanjing

15

2002.12

Shanghai

16

2004.5

Changsha

New development of
bridge engineering

239

114

Qiantang Jiang Second

Bridge

290

225

Wuhan Yangtze River

Second Bridge

Suspension bridge

250

84

Shantou Bridge

China bridge
engineering in the 21st
century

368

132

Humen Bridge

246

99

Jiangyin Yangtze River

Bridge

264

147

Nanjing Yangtze River

Second Bridge

192

96

Shanghai Lupu Bridge

229

116

Maocaojie bridge

Achievements of
Chinese Bridges in this
century
Long span bridges and
large bridge engineering
in the new century
1.Innovation, quality,
aesthetics of bridges
2.Top ten bridge vote

17

2006.5

Chongqing

strengthening
innovation, improving
quality and stressing on
aesthetics

18

2008.5

Tianjin

strengthening
innovation and stressing
on aesthetics

319

184

Caiyuanba Yangtze
River Bridge,
Shibanpo Yangtze River
Bridge,
Chaotianmen Yangtze
River Bridge,

351

233

Fuming Bridge and

Guotai Bridge

3.2.2 Bridge and Structural Engineering Subcommittee, China Highway and

Transportation Society
China Highway & Transportation Society was founded in 1978, the National Highway
Traffic voluntary workers in science and technology industry, composed of academic
mass organizations. The society has a total members of about 6.6 million and 12
subcommittees, including the bridges and structural engineering subcommittee. The
society is the sponsor and editor of the China Journal of Highway and Transport,
China Road as well as Traffic Information Industry in China and so on.
Bridge and Structural Engineering Subcommittee is one of the subcommittees in
China Highway and Transportation, and it is also a very important society on bridge
engineering in China.
The Bridge and Structural Subcommittee of Chinese Highway and Transportation
Society organize the other series National Conference on Bridge Engineering since
1979, which is held each year at present. This conference has more background of real
bridge engineering and put more attention to application research and design,
construction, management and maintain of highway bridges. The recent five annual
conferences is listed in Tab.e. Self-renovation and sustainable development are the
theme in 2008s annual meeting.

Tab. 8 Recent five national conferences on bridges organized by Bridge and Structural Engineering Subcommittee
of China Highway and Transportation Society
Number of
Number
Date
Place
Theme and Objective
Background project
Papers
Innovation and sustainable
1
2004.10
Kunming
176
development
2

2005.10

Ningbo

195

Hangzhou Bay Bridge

2006.11

Changshu

172

Sutong Yangtze River

Bridge

2007.11

Guangzhou

Subject lecture on new

technology

192

Huangpu Bridge,
Xinguang Bridge, etc

2008.10

Zhoushan

Self-renovation and sustainable

development

193

Xihoumen Bridge and

Jintang Bridge

Besides these two special subcommittee on bridge engineering, there is some other
society has affairs on the bridge engineering, such as China Railway Society and
China Steel Construction Society.
China Railway Society is the largest science and technology academic society groups
for Chinese railway workers. It accepts the guidance from Chinese Association for
Science and Technology and the Ministry of Civil Affairs. It is supported by the
Ministry of Railway and has very close relationship with it. There is subcommittee for
engineering which include bridges, but no special subcommittee on bridges and
nonperiodical conferences on bridge engineering for special topics only attracted of
the railway engineers.
The China Railway Society publishes two Journals; one is the Railway Journal
including research of bridge engineering focus on railway bridges and the other one is
a popular science journal Railway Knowledge.
China Steel Construction Society (CSCS) establish in1984, is a national professional
organization of economy and technology having the status of a legal person which is
composed of enterprises and undertakings from the profession of the Chinese steel
construction. It has a subcommittee on Steel Bridge Structure.
3.4 Publications
Publications on bridge engineering introduced here include proceedings of conference,
Journals and books. Regard on the proceedings of conference, the most famous are
the two national conferences on bridge engineering hold by the Bridge and structural
engineering subcommittees both of China Civil Engineering Society and China
Highway and Transportation Society.
3.4.1 Journals
(1) Special journals on bridge engineering
There are three special journals on bridge engineering in China. They are
Construction of Bridges, World Bridges and Bridges.
Both of Construction of Bridges, World Bridges are spooned and editor by Bridge
Science Research Institute Ltd., as mentioned before.

The journal Construction of Bridges was issued at the first time in 1971. It
introduces many large and representative bridges at home and abroad, promotes its
valuable experience and reports the new achievements of scientific research, design,
construction, engineering material, structural theory and method of calculation, etc.
Now it has been an authoritative academic publication in the national bridge field.
"World Bridge" (the original title of "foreign bridges") issued its first copy in 1973
with a main purpose to introduce development of bridge engineering abroad with
many translated papers from foreign language into Chinese. Now it also presents the
development of bridge engineering both abroad and home, including scientific
research, design, construction, engineering, materials, construction machinery,
experimental research and theory computing, engineering management and othe latest
results. It is a comprehensive report and comment on the world's newest bridge
science and technology and engineering practice of academic publications.
Bridges is a new journal on bridge engineering, not only on academic research
paper but also information on plan, design and construction, culture, trend, interview
of experts of bridge engineering, etc. The editor also organizes some seminars on
bridge engineering.
(2) Journals publish papers on research of bridge engineering
Journals which publish papers on research of bridge engineering generally are
sponsored and editor by engineering societies and by the universities.
China Civil Engineering Journal is the major official publication of China Civil
Engineering Society (CCES) and one of the core engineering technology periodicals
in China, reports current development and updates in Chinas civil engineering,
including bridge engineering. It is published monthly.
China Journal of Highway and Transport is the most authoritative academic
publications in the road-communication field under the auspices of China Highway
and Transport Society. The content of Journal covers a wide range of highway
engineering, including bridge engineering. Meanwhile, the papers are the reports of
new technologies and skills, new material, national academic exchanges and the latest
scientific and technological information, etc.
Railway Journal is an academic publication under the auspices of China Railway
Society. The journal started publication in 1979. The papers involved in many fields,
railway bridge engineering is one of them. It is to exchange the research results with
related enterprises for making progress together and work for the development of
railway technology.
Engineering Mechanics held by Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied
Mechanics is a national comprehensive academic journal. It reports the research
results of application of mechanics in the area of engineering and structure, including
the bridge engineering. And also it publishes the papers about applications of
mechanics in research, design, construction, and teaching, which has high academic

standard, creativity, practical value.

In China, all the universities have their journals. The journals editor by the
universities with bridge engineering discipline publish papers on research of bridge
engineering, such as the Journal of Tongji University (Natural Science), Journal of
Southwest Jiaotong University, etc.
(3) Other Journals
There are some other journals which publish papers in bridge engineering both in
research and application, such as Highway, Journal of China and Foreign
Highway,
Highway was founded in 1956 and is held by CCCC Highway Construction Co.,
Ltd. It targets those who work for the technology and management of design,
construction, survey, research of road engineering. The contents of magazine mainly
cover practical technology, and also include policy, theory, and scientific experience.
Journal of China and Foreign Highway is editor by Changsha University of Science
and Technology (formerly of Changsha Communications Institute). The main sections
are: domestic and international road engineering, bridge engineering, structural
calculation, tunnel engineering, materials and testing, detection and maintenance of
road and bridge, etc. Similar as World Bridges, there are some translated papers
from abroad to introduce Chinese engineers of the new development of highway
engineering all over the world.
Journal of Railroad standard design was founded in 1957. The main contents of the
journal are practical science and technologies of railway, researching and learning of
standards and specification, as well as research and application of railway
engineering.
Some journals information is listed in appendix C.
3.4.2

Books

With the development of communications and infrastructure construction, research

and application of bridge engineering in China has been on a continuously upgrade
and there is a large requirement on books of bridge engineering, so many books on
bridge engineering are constantly published these years.
There are two main press houses publish books on bridge engineering, one is the
China Communication Press which once own by the Ministry of Transport and the
other is the China Railway Press which once own by the Ministry of Railway. Other
press houses also publish books on bridge engineering are China Water Power Press,
Tongji University Press, Technology and Science Publishing House, Southwest
Jiaotong University Press, China Architecture and Building Press, etc.
Books on bridge engineering can be divided into three kinds: textbooks, handbooks,
monographs. It is impossible to list all books one by one, so only some books most in
use are given in this section. Some books are listed in the Appendix C.

4 Bridge Experts
This section deals with the some of the most famous
bridge experts in contemporary and modern time in
China, who have participated or are participating in
the design, construction or research of bridge project.
4.1 MAO Yisheng (1896-1989)
Mao was born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. He
entered Jiaotong University's Tangshan Engineering
College (now Southwest Jiaotong University) and
Fig. 2 Mao Yisheng
earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering in
1916. He earned his Master's degree from Cornell University and earned the first
Ph.D. ever granted by the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon
University) in 1919. His doctoral dissertation entitled Secondary Stress on Frame
Construction is treasured at the Hunt Library of Carnegie Mellon University.
Returning to China, Mao held a variety of posts. As the director of Project Office of
Hangzhou Qiantang River Bridge, which is the first dual-purpose road-and-railway
bridge in China, he built the first modern bridge in China. He also participated in the
construction of China's first modern bridge -- Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, as
chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee.
He assumed the office of President of Jiaotong University, Director of Railway
Institute under the Ministry of Railway, President of Railway Scientific Research
Center, Chairman of Beijing Science Association, etc., and was regarded as the
founder of modern bridge engineering in China.

Fig. 3 Hangzhou Qiantang River Bridge

4.2 T.Y. Lin (1912-2003)
Considered one of the greatest structural engineers of his time,
Lin earned a reputation for combining elegance and strength in
his designs. Evidence of Lin's work can be seen worldwide, from
San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center to the Kuan Du
Bridge in Taiwan to the roof of the National Racetrack in
Caracas, Venezuela. The Moscone Center's 22,000-square-foot
Fig. 4 T.Y. Lin

Exhibition Hall was the world's largest underground room at the time it was
constructed in 1982.
Born in Fuzhou, China, in 1912, Lin was raised in Beijing. In 1931, at the age of 19,
Lin earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the college. He then left for
the United States and began his graduate studies at UC Berkeley. Early in his career,
Lin gained recognition in his field with his master's thesis on direct bending moment
distribution. The innovative paper advanced structural analysis and was the first
student thesis published by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
After receiving his UC Berkeley master's degree in civil engineering in 1933, Lin
returned to China to work with the Chinese Ministry of Railways. He quickly moved
up the ranks, becoming chief bridge engineer of the Yunnan-Chongqing Railway four
years later at the age of 25. In his position, Lin oversaw the survey, design and
construction of more than 1,000 bridges throughout China's mountainous regions.
After the end of World War II, he accepted an invitation to join UC Berkeley's faculty.
It was here that Lin began his groundbreaking research in prestressed concrete
structure. In 1954, Lin founded the firm T.Y. Lin and Associates to help move
prestressed concrete from the realm of research into real-world applications. The
firm's name changed to T.Y. Lin International by the late 1960s to reflect the
company's growth and worldwide presence.
4.3 LI Guohao (1913-2005)
Li Guohao was born in Meixian County, Guangdong Province on 1913. He began the
preparatory course at Tongji University, Shanghai, in
1929 at the age of 16; and two years later he took up
undergraduate courses. In 1936 he graduated and
became an assistant professor at Tongji University. In
1937, Li Guohao took over from his German
predecessor and became responsible for teaching Steel
Structures and Steel Bridges in the university. In 1939,
under the instruction of Prof. K. Kloppel of TH
Darmstadt, he completed his doctoral dissertation. Later,
Fig. 5 Li Guohao
he was invited to assist Prof. Kloppel for the
compilation of German DIN 4114 Structural Stability
Code.
In 1956, he was appointed Vice President of Tongji
University. In the early 1960s, he established the
Research Group of Structural Theory in Tongji
University. By 1966, he had extensively researched
bridge structures, engineering mechanics and
explosion-resistant engineering; and had trained a large
number of talents in these fields, who later became the
core researchers who contributed notably to Chinas

Fig.6 Lis Doctoral Thesis

development in the 1980s.

Professor Li was a pioneer in chinas bridge construction and was a generation with
worldwide fame. He initiated and established the Bridge and Structural Engineering
Subcommittee in the China Civil Engineering Society and was president of its first
Executive Council.
As a veteran member of IABSE, a Permanent Committee member, and Chairman of
its Chinese group, Li Guohao was elected in 1981 by IABSE as one of the Ten
World-famous Experts of Structural Engineering, and was awarded the International
Award of Merit in Structural Engineering in 1987.
4.4 XIANG Haifan (1935- )
XIANG Haifan was born in Shanghai in 1935. He is a Member of Chinese Academy
of Engineering and a national level expert. He
obtained his first degree in bridge and tunnel
engineering from Tongji University in 1955. He
was awarded his master's degree in bridge
engineering from Tongji University in 1958 and
works as a professor there since then on.
As a well-known expert in bridge and structure
engineering, Prof. Xiang has been involved in
the research on the theory of bridge structure
Fig. 7 Xiang Haifan
and engineering control for decades, and is one
of pioneering researchers on wind engineering in China, especially wind resistance of
long-span bridges. His research works promote the application of long span
cable-stayed bridge and other long span bridges in China.
Prof. Xiang is the vice president of IABSE, a standing member (representing China)
and won the Anton Tedesko Award in 2008. He is also an international correspondent
for the United Bridge Design Committee of American Society for Civil Engineering
(ASCE) and American Concrete Institution (ACI).
4.5 FAN Lichu (1933- )
FAN Lichu was born in Zhenhai, Zhejiang Province in
1933. After graduated from Tongji University in July
1955, he has been a teacher in this university more than
50 years, and now he is also a part time professor in
Fuzhou University. He is Chairman of IABSE Chinese
Group; President of Bridge and Structural Engineering
Association of CCES. He was elected a Member of
Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2001.
Prof. Fan has been engaged in teaching and research for
over forty years and has made outstanding achievements
in the theory of bridge structure design and in seismic

Fig. 8 FAN Lichu

design of bridges. He established a research center for seismic design of bridges in the
State Key Laboratory for Disaster Reduction in Civil Engineering and has formed a
stable research team with high academic caliber.
Prof. Fan has conducted international academic cooperation with America, Canada,
Germany and other countries. The US National Earthquake Engineering Research
Centre has invited Professor FAN to establish an academic organization to organize
seminars annually on seismic design for special bridges.
4.6 ZENG Qingyuan (1925- )
Zeng Qingyuan, born in Taihe County, Jiangxi
province, graduated from Nanchang University in
1950, and graduated as a postgraduate from
department of civil engineering in Tsinghua University
in 1956. He is a professor in Central South University.
Prof. Zeng Qingyuan has been engaged in the teaching
and research of bridge vibration and stability for a long
time. He has established a set of new theories for
lateral vibration analysis of train-bridge time-varying
Fig. 9 ZENG Qingyuan
system. In 1999, Prof. Zeng was made academician of
Chinese Academy of Engineering.
4.7 LIN Yuanpei
1936 --

Lin Yuanpei, born in Shanghai, graduated from

Shanghai school of civil engineering. He served as
chief engineer of Shanghai municipal Engineering
Design Institute and now he is also a part time
professor in Fuzhou University. In 2005, Lin
Yuanpei was made academician of Chinese
Academy of Engineering.
He was the great master of design. As a chief
designer, he successfully complete the design tasks
of many major projects, including Jialing River
Fig. 10 LIN Yuanpei
Shimen Bridge, ShangHai Yangpu Bridge
(cable-stayed bridge with a main span of 602m), Nanpu Bridge (cable-stayed bridge
with a main span of 420m), Lupu Bridge (Steel Arch Bridge, main span:550m,
Eugene C.Figg Jr prize awarded by IABSE) and the East Sea Bridge (sea-crossing
bridge, total span: 32Km).
He also attained to great heights in the field of theory and contributed important
academic papers and published books on bridge engineering, such as Cable-stayed
Bridge, Handbook of Bridge Engineers.

Fig. 11 Yangpu Bridge

Fig. 12 Lupu Bridge

4.8 FANG Qinghan 1925 -

Born in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, he

graduated from civil engineering of Tsinghua
University in 1950. At present he is a senior
engineer of China Railway Major Bridge
Reconnaissance & Design Institute Co Ltd and
China Railway Major Bridge Engineering
Group Co Ltd, and the honorary head of college
of civil engineering and mechanics of Huazhong
University of Science and Technology.

Fig. 13 FANG Qinghan

After graduation, he was assigned to enter the design of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge.
From 1954 to 1958, he was in charge of the design of Xiangjiang Bridge and Wujiang
Bridge. From 1958 to 2004, he worked in steel beam design and research of some
national key projects, such as Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, Jiujiang Yangtze River
Bridge and Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge. Academician Fan Qinghan won five national
science and technology advancement prizes, who was a member of Chinese Academy
of Engineering in 1997.

Fig.14 Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge

Fig. 15 Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge

4.9 ZHENG Jielian

1941 --

Zheng Jielian, born in Neijiang, Sichuang Province, graduated from Chongqing

Jiaotong University in 1965. He once doubled as deputy-director of Department of
Transportation, Guangxi Zhuang Nationality Autonomous Region and chief engineer.
Now he is the chairman of Guangxi Highway Society. In 1999, he was made
academician of Chinese Academy of
Engineering.
In 1968, Zheng Jielian pioneered the new
construction method with non-centring for
double curved arch bridge. In 1976, he was
responsible for the design and construction of
Yongning Yongjina Bridge in Guangxi, which
is a RC arch bridge with a main span of 312m,
employing the CFST as embedded scaffolding
Fig. 16 ZHENG Jielian
during the construction. During the recent 10
years, he had took part in the construction of about 40 bridges. Academician Zheng
Jielian won the national science and technology advancement prizes for many times.

Fig. 17 Yongning Yongjina Bridge