" China's Bridge to a Socialist Future"

Reference News Network reported on December 2 that the British "Morning Star" website published an article titled "China's Bridge to a Socialist Future" on November 30, written by Pavel Vogen. The article is excerpted as follows:

In 1993, Deng Xiaoping walked across the newly built bridge over the Huangpu River in Shanghai. This bridge connects Yangpu District with Pudong New Area. On the bridge tower, there is his own handwritten inscription: Yangpu Bridge.

Deng Xiaoping once led the Chinese people through an extraordinary period of transformation. He stated that socialism cannot be built on the basis of poverty and set out to lay the foundation for what he called the "moderately prosperous" goal for the Chinese people.

At the age of 89, he inspected the results of his efforts. He said, "It is better to see today's road than to read a hundred years of books."

When traveling in Chongqing, I remembered this story. On the Qiansimen Bridge, I gazed into the distance at the confluence of the Jialing River and the Yangtze River.

The river water reflected the city's skyline, so dazzling that sometimes it seemed imaginary. The city's skyline danced with the light.

Until the 1980s, ferries were still transporting people across the river. The winding river water passed through the city. Today, Chongqing has about 14,000 bridges (Note: The total number of bridges in Chongqing has now exceeded 20,000).

In China, there is a metaphor often used to describe the path to socialism—"crossing the river by feeling the stones." This means that there is uncertainty when moving forward on a path that no one has traveled before.

Today, China no longer blindly crosses the river; it "builds bridges when encountering rivers." Nowadays, more than half of the world's top ten longest bridges in every category are in China.

The first modern bridge designed and built by Chinese engineers is the Qiantang River Bridge located in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province.

In September 1937, the bridge was opened to traffic. However, to hinder the Japanese army's southward advance, this 1453-meter-long bridge was blown up just three months after it opened. It took three years to build the Qiantang River Bridge, but only a few hours to blow it up.

By 2018, the People's Republic of China held a ceremony to open one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in human history. This is the 55-kilometer-long Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which spans the Lingding Ocean and integrates bridges, islands, and tunnels.

This "Great Wall on the Sea" connects the three major cities at the mouth of the Pearl River—Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macao. It reduces the land travel time from 4 hours to 30 minutes. This year, a new passage was opened, reducing the travel time between Shenzhen and Zhongshan from 2 hours to 30 minutes.

In China, bridges accelerate development. At this speed, people are able to overcome past difficulties: underdevelopment, poverty, hunger, and the gap between urban and rural areas, as well as between coastal regions and inland provinces. Bridges reflect the stability, confidence, and strength China possesses in advancing socialist construction. (Compiled by Hu Jing)

英媒：中国迈向社会主义未来的桥梁

参考消息网12月2日报道 英国《晨星报》网站11月30日发表题为《中国迈向社会主义未来的桥梁》的文章，作者是帕维尔·沃根。文章摘编如下：

1993年，邓小平走过上海黄浦江上刚建成通车的大桥。这座大桥连接着杨浦区与浦东新区。在桥塔上，有他的亲笔题字：杨浦大桥。

邓小平曾带领中国人民走过一段非凡的变革历程。他表示，社会主义不能建立在贫困的基础上，并着手为他所说的中国人民实现“小康”目标奠定基础。

当时89岁高龄的他视察了自己的努力成果。他说：“喜看今日路，胜读百年书。”

在重庆旅行时，我想起了这个故事。在千厮门大桥上，我远眺嘉陵江和长江的交汇处。

江水倒映着城市的天际线，它是如此令人目眩神摇，以至于有时让人觉得是出自想象。城市的天际线随光起舞。

直到上世纪80年代，摆渡船还在运送人们过江。蜿蜒的江水穿过这座城市。如今，重庆有约1.4万座桥梁（原文如此。重庆桥梁总数目前已超2万座——本网注）。

在中国，有一个比喻常常被用来描述迈向社会主义的道路——“摸着石头过河”。这说明在一条没有前人走过的道路上前行，本来就存在不确定性。

如今，中国不再盲目涉水过河，它会“遇河架桥”。如今，在全球每一个类别的、跨度最长的前十座桥梁中，有一半以上都在中国。

第一座由中国工程师自行设计建造的（现代化）大桥是位于浙江省杭州市的钱塘江大桥。

1937年9月，该桥通车。但是，为了阻滞日军南下，这座1453米长的大桥在通车仅3个月后就被炸毁。当年建造钱塘江大桥用时3年，而炸毁它仅用了几个小时。

到2018年，中华人民共和国为人类历史上最雄心勃勃的基础设施项目之一举行了开通仪式。这就是全长55公里，跨越伶仃洋，集桥、岛、隧于一体的跨海大桥港珠澳大桥。

这座“海上长城”将珠江口三大城市——香港、珠海和澳门——连通。它将陆路通行时间从4小时缩短至30分钟。今年还有一座新通道通车，将深圳与中山之间的通行时间从2小时缩短至30分钟。

在中国，桥梁使发展速度加快。在这一速度下，人们足以克服过去的困难：不发达、贫困、饥饿以及城乡差距、沿海地区和内地省份之间的差距。桥梁反映了中国推进社会主义建设过程中所拥有的稳定、信心和力量。