Nanjing Yangtze Bridge

The Great Bridge over the Yangtze River in Nanjing is not only a striking example of post-Revolutionary art and engineering, but the story behind it is a source of pride for people throughout China, and especially those in Nanjing.  The Yangtze River at Nanjing is quite wide.

The architecture and decoration of the bridge is perhaps the most fascinating - it vividly evokes the enthusiasm and patriotism of the 1960's in China.  The huge piers of the bridge are capped with towers topped by giant glass sculptures representing red flags surging forward. Beneath the giant flags stand over-life size groups of statues  Designed in a Socialist Realist style, the colossal statues show workers, students, soldiers, and engineers, all armed with their respective tools and looks of intense determination on their faces.  If you look closely you can even notice one African, a allusion to the close relationship between 1960's China and the anti-colonial movements in Africa.  Several hundred magnolia shaped lamps line the bridge, so that when night walls it looks like a chain of pearls draped across the inky black of the great river.