Waibaidu Bridge

Waibaidu Bridge 外白渡桥
Bridge seen from Oriental Pearl Tower
Coordinates	31°14′35″N 121°29′24″E / 31.24306°N 121.49000°E / 31.24306; 121.49000Coordinates: 31°14′35″N 121°29′24″E / 31.24306°N 121.49000°E / 31.24306; 121.49000
Carries	Road and pedestrian
Crosses	Suzhou Creek
Locale	Near confluence of Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek, Shanghai, China
Other name(s)	Garden Bridge
Characteristics
Design	camelback truss bridge
Material	Steel
Total length	104.9 metres (344 ft)
Width	18.4 metres (60 ft)
Longest span	52.16 metres (171.1 ft)
No. of spans	2
Piers in water	1
Load limit	20.32 tonnes (20.00 long tons; 22.40 short tons)
Clearance below	3.25 metres (10.7 ft) highest tide; 5.57 metres (18.3 ft) lowest tide
History
Designer	Howarth Erskine Ltd
Constructed by	Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company
Construction begin	4 August 1906
Construction end	29 December 1907
Opened	20 January 1908

The Waibaidu Bridge (Chinese: 外白渡桥; pinyin: Wàibáidù Qiáo; Shanghainese: Ngaba'du Jioh), called the Garden Bridge in English, is the first all-steel bridge, and the only surviving example of a camelback truss bridge, in China. The fourth Western-designed bridge built at its location since 1856, in the downstream of the estuary of the Suzhou Creek, near its confluence with the Huangpu River, adjacent to the Bund in central Shanghai, connecting the Huangpu and Hongkou districts, the present bridge was opened on 20 January 1908. With its rich history and unique design the Waibaidu Bridge is one of the symbols of Shanghai. Its modern and industrial image may be regarded as the city's landmark bridge. On 15 February 1994 the Shanghai Municipal Government declared the bridge an example of Heritage Architecture, and one of the outstanding structures in Shanghai. In an ever-changing metropolis, the Waibaidu Bridge still remains a popular attraction, and one of the few constants in the city skyline.

There is considerable debate about the exact meaning of Waibaidu (外白渡), the name given to the wooden bridge erected by the Shanghai Municipal Council in 1873. According to one source, "The upper stream of any river was called li 裡 (internal, inside); the lower stream was called “wai”." Xue Liyong (薛理勇), indicates in his book on the history of the Bund:

In several cases, the Chinese used the terms li 裡 (internal) and wai 外 (external) to indicate the greater (nei) or lesser (wai) degree of proximity of a location. There was even an intermediate degree with the use of zhong 中 (middle) for places located between these two extremes. There remains several place names in Shanghai that are linked to this practice. The Chinese name of the Garden Bridge – waibaidu qiao 外白渡橋 – is such a case. The name makes sense only in relation with another bridge called libaidu qiao 裡白渡橋 that was located further inside the Soochow Creek, whereas the Garden Bridge was located at the mouth of the creek where it merges into the Huangpu river.