钱塘江大桥

This guide to the Qiantang River Bridge in Hangzhou follows engineer Mao Yisheng in the 1930s, building the two-tier crossing for millions less than foreign consultants thought possible by solving the river's shifting sands with a water-jet method never tried before. You'll hear how his crew sank house-sized concrete caissons and drove over a thousand wooden piles to anchor sixteen steel truss spans opening in September 1937. Weeks later, as Japanese troops closed in on Hangzhou, Mao faced a decision about the bridge he had just built, one he is said to have carried the plan for since opening day.