As an integral part of celebration activities for the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, the opening ceremony of the “Great Course and Brilliant Achievements: Exhibition for Celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the People's Republic of China” is held at Beijing Exhibition Center on September 23rd. Party and state leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng And Wang Qishan visit the exhibition.

The exhibition consists of five parts in a chronological sequence, including Preface Hall, Standing Firm in the East from 1949 to 1978, Reform and Opening Up from 1978 to 2012, Towards Rejuvenation from 2012 to 2019, and The Right Path.

The five parts exhibit a total of 150 “Number One of New China”, each having a unified logo to facilitate visitors.

Presenting those highlights, historic moments and vivid scenes, the exhibition gallery brings everyone into a time tunnel.

The rectangular TBM with the world’s largest section, developed by China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. (CREG), has been listed among the 150 “Number One of New China”. It is exhibited in the Towards Rejuvenation, demonstrating the world-leading technical level of China’s rectangular TBM.

The exhibition also displays the model of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, the world’s longest cross-sea bridge. China Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge Group Co., Ltd. (CRSBG), China Railway Baoji Bridge Group Co., Ltd. (CRBBG) and China Railway Science and Industry Group Co., Ltd. (CRSIG) have participated in its construction.

[Further Reading]

● The first rectangular TBM with a superlarge section

In 2012, Zhengzhou Government intended to build an underground pedestrian tunnel at the intersection of Zhongzhou Avenue and Hongzhuan Road. Yet the traditional construction methods would affect ground traffic and surrounding environment.

How to break the curse that urban roads are frequently gutted? CREG boldly raised the construction by rectangular TBM. In December 2013, two rectangular TBMs with a superlarge section that is 10.12m wide and 7.27m high rolled off the production line in Zhengzhou, which was the rectangular TBM with the world’s largest section at the time.

In September 2014, four pipe jacking tunnels of the superlarge-section rectangular TBM pipe jacking tunnel- tunnel undercrossing Zhongzhou Avenue at Hongzhuan Road in Zhengzhou were completed. CREC was the general contractor for the project. There were “four most” in technology: the rectangular pipe jacking tunnel with the largest section in the world, the smallest soil covering in China, the smallest net spacing and the longest distance without intermediate jacking station. The project introduced a new construction method for underground engineering and attracted extensive attention in the tunnel industry around the world.

● Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge

On the morning of October 23rd, 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping attended the Opening Ceremony of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, and announced the opening of the bridge. Since then, the first large-scale cross-sea transport project jointly built by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao under the framework of “one country two systems” has been opened to traffic.

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is the longest cross-sea bridge in the world so far. It is known as the “crown” in the history of world bridge construction, and CRHIC’s technical element sheds light on the crown. During the bridge construction, CRSBG is responsible for 180000 tons of steel structure manufacture at section CB01, the biggest bid section of the bridge steel structure project, CRBBG undertakes manufacturing for more than 40000 tons of steel girder and steel tower, and CRSIG specially develops transportation equipment for the bridge to serve removing, transshipment, transportation and loading of steel box girders.

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is another major infrastructure construction project in China following the Three Gorges Project and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The guardian hailed it as one of the “seven wonders of the modern world”. The bridge has a complex structure and it is difficult to construct. Structurally, the bridge is mainly composed of steel box girder (bridge deck), bridge pier, submarine immersed tube and other major components. The bridge consumes 425,000 tons of steel, which is equivalent to about 60 Eiffel Towers. It is the world’s first project to use such a large scale of steel box girders.