The nuts & bolts of memory

It may just look like a river crossing, but history and imagination flow through the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge's veins of iron and steel

As grand structures go, the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge has an unenviable job competing for public attention, and perhaps even affection, with the likes of the Great Wall of China and the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai.

In fact to those ignorant of the bridge's history it may not seem that remarkable. It was, after all, only the third bridge to be built over the great Yangtze, a couple of dozen bridges in China are longer, and its specifications may otherwise seem modest.