Ruyi Bridge
如意桥 Rúyì qiáo
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Ruyi Bridge
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| Coordinates | 28°41′08″N 120°36′17″E / 28.68556°N 120.60472°E / 28.68556; 120.60472 |
| Crosses | Shenxianju Valley |
| Named for | Ruyi |
| Characteristics | |
| Material | Steel |
| Trough construction | Glass |
| Total length | 100 m (330 ft) |
| Height | 140 m (460 ft) |
| No. of spans | 3 |
| History | |
| Designer | He Yunchang |
| Construction start | 2017 |
| Construction end | 2020 |
| Opened | September 2020 |
| Location | |
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Ruyi Bridge (Chinese: 如意桥 Rúyì qiáo) is a footbridge in Taizhou, Zhejiang, China, made up of three bridges. It is a pedestrian bridge which was built to cross the Shenxianju Valley and it features a glass-bottomed walkway. The unusual curved walkways are designed to look like a Chinese ruyi.
Planning for the bridge began in 2017.[1] The bridge was opened in September 2020 and was visited by 200,000 people by November 2020.[2] Ruyi Bridge was designed by structural steel expert, He Yunchang and made to resemble jade ruyi, which is a Chinese symbol for good fortune.[3] It is a two level 100 m long (330 ft) glass bridge which is 140 m (460 ft) above the ground.[2][3] The bridge was built to be a tourist attraction, spanning the Shenxianju Valley, and is one of China's 2000 glass bottom bridges.[4][5] It is the major attraction spanning the west canyons of Shenxianju, in the Shenxianju Scenic Area.[6]
In 2020, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield uploaded a drone video of the bridge to Twitter which went viral. The video carried the caption: "I'd want better handrails". Many viewers doubted that the bridge was real; Snopes later carried out an investigation and determined that it was indeed real and not a deepfake.[7]
The bridge is wavy and has three separate footpaths, portions of which have a glass bottom.[5] The design has been described as three undulating bridges meant to blend in with the natural scenery.[1] Madeleine Grey of The Sydney Morning Herald described the bridge's appearance as a "mix between DNA strand and a futuristic Eye of Sauron."[4]
The bridge designer He Yunchang is the same structural engineer who was involved in the design of the "Bird's Nest," a stadium used for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.[5]
China
