·万国桥

        “桥梁津渡皆王政攸关,窑灶井泉皆民居攸关,不可忽也。”这是康熙《天津卫志》的话。从古至今,都重视桥梁和渡口的建设。天津多水、多河,自然就多津渡、多桥梁。但是天津的桥不像江南的小桥流水,石桥永固。而是随着城市的发展,不断变迁,一般走过了从渡口到浮桥,从铁桥到钢筋混凝土桥的历史。展现了一批名渡和名桥的风采。
        万国桥,就是位于海河中游老龙头车站(现天津火车站)附近的一座名桥。它南接解放北路,北连老龙头火车站,为海河两岸重要的交通枢纽。明代,此处为天津6大渡口之一; 清乾隆年间修了浮桥,称为老龙头浮桥。
        光绪二十八年(1902)十二月,建成老龙头铁桥。因为桥的右岸是法租界,所以是法国要求清政府修建的。桥为4孔,宽8.4米。桥右岸的解放北路,发展成金融街,商贸金融业发达,交通繁盛; 而该桥狭窄,流量极其拥挤,所以在其上游不远处,筹建新桥。老桥于1927年拆除。
        1927年10月18日,新桥落成,称为万国桥。由法租界工部局主持修建,因此俗称法国桥。海河工程局曾在审标时参与意见。桥长97.64米,分为3孔,中孔46.94米,两边孔各24米多。桥宽:中跨19.29米,两边跨度各20.78米。限载20吨。该桥上部结构为钢桁架及纵横梁组成的桥面系,下部墩台为钢筋混凝土结构。中孔可以开启,为双叶立转式开启桥。是旧时海河上4大开启桥之一(另3座是金华桥、金钢桥、金汤桥)。1946年,万国桥改称中正桥。1949年1月25日,改名为解放桥。它是天津市最大的开启桥,并且是旧钢桥中现今尚可开启的桥。
        Record of Tianjin compiled and published by Kangxi`sorder says,"Bridges and ports were critical to the royalgovernment,while houses,wells and springs werecritical to the ordinary people." This means bridges andports had been paid due emphasis from the early on.There were many rivers and plenty of water resource inTianjin,therefore there were a great number of bridges and ports. However,bridges in Tianjin went throughlots of changes in history,not like the stone bridges insouth China. With the development of Tianjin,bridgesin Tianjin transits from ferry,float bridge,iron bridge toreinforce concrete bridge. Many of them were famous inthe bridge history.
        The Wanguo Bridge was one of them. It wasa famous bridge in the middle of Haihe River nearLaolongtou Station (now Tianjin Station). As a criticaltransportation means for the two sides of Haihe River,itconnects Jiefangbei Road in the south and LaolongtouStation in the north. It had been one of the six biggestports in Ming Dynasty. A float bridge had been built inyears of Emperor Qianlong,called the Laolongtou FloatBridge.
        In December 1902 (the 28th year of EmperorGuangxu),the Laolongtou Iron Bridge was built underthe request of the French concession which was locatedat the right end of the bridge. The bridge was 8.4 meterswide and had four holes. Jiefangbei Road to the right ofthe bridge developed into the financial street later withadvanced trade,commerce and financial industries. Thebridge thus got very crowded,and it was removed in1927. A new bridge was built not far from it in its upperstream.
        In 1927 a new bridge was completed,calledWanguo Bridge. Because it was built under thesupervision of the Industry Department of France,it wasalso called French Bridge. The Haihe River EngineeringBureau had taken part in censoring the bid for thisbridge. The bridge was 97.64 meters long and had threeholes. The diameter of the middle hole was 46.94 metersand that of the other two holes was 24.23 meters. Thebridge was 19.29 meters wide in the middle and 20.78meters wide in the two ends. It can bear a limited loadof 20 tons. Its middle hole can be locked/unlocked. Itwas one of the four bridges that can be locked/unlockedin Haihe River (the other three was Jinhua Bridge,Jingang Bridge and Jintang Bridge). It was renamedas Zhongzheng Bridge in 1946 and Jiefang (liberation)Bridge in January 25,1949.It was the biggest and theonly old steel bridge that can still be locked/unlocked inTianjin.

        

·万国桥开启