The revival of modern cable-stayed bridges is one of the greatest achievements in bridge engineering after World War II.

Cable-stayed bridges were first introduced into China in the early sixties. Two trial bridges, the Xinwu Bridge with a main span of 54m in Shanghai and the Tangxi Bridge with a span of 75.8m in Yunyang, Sichuan Province -- both are reinforced concrete cable-stayed bridges --were completed in 1975.

Since 1977 when China entered a new era with its reform and opening-up policy and development of traffic, China's bridge engineering has made great strides in the construction of long-span cable-stayed bridges. The Ji'nan Bridge across the Yellow River with a main span of 220m, which was completed in 1982, can be regarded as a successful achievement of the first stage -- the learning stage -- in the history of China's cable-stayed bridge construction.

Ji'nan Yellow River Bridge, Shandong Province

In 1980s, the construction of cable-stayed bridges developed rapidly over a wide area in China. More than 30 bridges of various types were erected in different provinces and municipalities, for example, the Yonghe Bridge in Tianjin, which has a span as long as 260m, and the Dongying Bridges in Shandong Province, whose span reaches 288m, the latter being China's first steel cable-stayed bridge. In addition, the Haiyin Bridge in Guangzhou with its 35m-wide deck, single cable plane and double thin-walled pylon piers; the Jiujiang Bridge in Nanhai of Guangdong Province, which was erected by a floating crane with a capacity of 5000kN; the Shimen Bridge in Chongqin, Sichuan Province, with an asymmetrical single cable plane arrangement and a 230m cantilever cast-in-situ; and the attractive-looking Xiangjiang North Bridge in Changsha of Hunan Province, completed in 1990 with light travlling formwork -- all are the representatives in this period with respective features.

Xiangjiang North Bridge, Hunan Province
 

 Yonghe Bridge, Tianjin
 

 Dongying Yellow River Bridge, Shandong Province

With the completion of the Nanpu Bridge in Shanghai in 1991, a new high tide of construction of cable-stayed bridges began to surge in China. Now, a large number of cable-stayed bridges with a span of over 400m are under design and construction. The most outstanding one is the Yangpu Bridge with a record-breaking span of 602m, another composite deck cable-stayed bridge in China will have attracted world attention not only for its large scale but for its speedy development as well.

 Nanpu Bridge, Shanghai

 Yangpu Bridge, Shanghai