Brief Introduction: Zhongshan bridge in lanzhou is located by the middle part of Northern Binhe road at the foot of the white pagoda mountain, commonly known as "zhongshan iron bridge" and "the Yellow River Iron bridge". It was built in 1907 of Qing dynasty, which is the oldest ancient bridge in lanzhou and also the first iron bridge above the yellow river with 5464 km length in the true sense. So it got the reputation as "the heavenly bridge of the Yellow River ". Zhongshan iron bridge is 233.33 meters long and 7.5 meters wide, which is an iron bridge with 6 piers and 5 holes. Lanzhou Iron Bridge is called one of great three bridges along the yellow river with Zhengzhou Iron Bridge and Jinan Iron Bridge. In 1942 it was renamed Zhongshan Bridge until now in order to commemorate Dr. Sun yat-sen who was the first president of Republic of China.

The predecessor of Zhongshan bridge is the pontoon bridge of Yellow River which was built in 1385 of Ming dynasty. In those days, the pontoon bridge of the Yellow River was made up of 24 large ships, which lined along the Yellow River. The ships are 5 meters apart, joined by long wood ,boarded and fenced. On the both sides of yellow river 4 giant iron columns,45 wooden columns were set to fix the ships with two pieces of long iron rope.Nowadays by the location of Zhongshan Bridge 3 iron columns with the length of 5.8m and weight of 10 tons still exist, which were called General columns by local.  At that time in winter the pantoon bridge would be demolished and be rebuilt in spring . Years by years the local government noticed that it was a huge project to demolish and rebuild it. An idea appeared to build an iron bridge across the yellow river. Finally in 1907 of Qing dynasty Lanzhou governor decided to build the iron bridge after application from central government of Qing dynasty. The project of the iron bridge was contracted by a German firm , of which an American and a German were invited to be the technical guidance. Most of building materials were firstly shipped by sea from Germany to Tianjin ,then transported from Tianjin to Lanzhou by carts. The whole project took 3 years and 300,699 liang silver ( 1 liang generally equal 100-200 yuan RMB ) to finish.

The Level: the first heavenly iron bridge of yellow river

Admission fee: 0 yuan RMB

Opening Time : 24 hours

Visiting Time: 30-40 minutes( depending your interest)

Travel Tips: 1, If you have enough time ,you may visit the Zhongshan bridge again at night for the colorful night scenery with a lot of lights;

2, If you have chance and enough time you may climb up to the white pagoda mountain by the north bank of yellow river to enjoy the whole view of Lanzhou city after you finish visiting the iron bridge.

3, When you take pictures on the bridge, please take care of your belongs and camera very well, avoiding to loose or fall down into the river.

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