Bridge brings happiness to villagers

Dachong village is near Hongfeng Lake, a national 4A-level scenic spot in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, with beautiful scenery, pleasant climate, and lush vegetation, all providing good advantages for it to develop rural tourism.

View of Dachong village in Hongfenghu town, Qingzhen county-level city in Guiyang. [Photo/ddcpc website] 

Not far from Dachong village stands the Huayudong Bridge crossing over the Hongfeng Lake just like a beautiful rainbow, setting off each other with the adjacent Hongfenghu Bridge.

Huayudong Bridge was dismantled and rebuilt on the site of the old bridge. The original Huayudong Bridge was opened to traffic in March 1991 and the construction of the new Huayudong Bridge began on Feb 20, 2019, and it was officially opened to traffic on June 29, 2021.

The new Huayudong Bridge is 270 meters long and is the first bridge built in the shape of a "hand basket" in Guizhou. The project took the lead to adopt the removal and reconstruction method of building bridges within the country and served as a model for reconstructing old bridges in mountainous areas.

The Huayudong Bridge crosses over the Hongfeng Lake. [Photo/ddcpc website] 

What is worth mentioning is that in April, the Huayudong Bridge removal and reconstruction project was awarded the Gustav Lindenthal Medal by the International Bridge Conference (IBC) – the world's most prestigious bridge construction award, making it the fourth project in Guizhou to win the award.

As an important link between Dachong village and other places, Huayudong Bridge is of great significance to the natives. Dachong village depends a lot on the bridge for selling agricultural produce, developing tourism, and transportation.

A fruit plantation in Dachong village. [Photo/ddcpc website] 

The village rises and prospers because of the bridge. The beautiful story between Huayudong Bridge and Dachong village displays in microcosm the benefits bridges in Guizhou bring to drive the regional economic development and there are more vivid stories like this are happening on Guizhou's soil.