Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the Playing-the-long-game dept.

China's president has opened the World's longest sea bridge. The giant infrastructure is 55km total, including 3 suspension bridges, a causeway, a 6.7km undersea tunnel between two artificial islands, and another 1km tunnel, all designed at great cost to resist the local typhoons and earthquakes. It links Macau and ZhuHai (Guangdong province) on one side of the Pearl River, to Hong-Kong new airport on the other.

President Xi Jinping opened the long-delayed and over-budget Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge on Tuesday, billed as a major step forward in China's plan to turn the Pearl River Delta into a technology hub to rival Silicon Valley.

But critics worry the 55km-long bridge connecting the mainland city of Zhuhai with the semi-autonomous territories of Hong Kong and Macau is as much about politics as it is business.

Hong-Kong independentists see the $2.2B investment as another sign of progressive assimilation into the mainland, with the 45 minute link replacing the 4-hour ferry commute.

China is stepping up initiatives to increase trade across the region and at home - the opening of the mega-bridge comes a month after a new high-speed rail link started carrying passengers from Hong Kong to the mainland.

Perhaps tellingly, cars will drive on the right on the 6-lane bridge, as in China, and switch to the left when entering Macau or HK.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:48PM (3 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:48PM (#753386) Journal

    Macau is China's Las Vegas.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by legont on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:14AM (2 children)

    by legont (4179) on Thursday October 25 2018, @12:14AM (#753397)

    Sorry, but that's a statement similar to "NY is America's whorehouse"

    Anyway, just to make sure we see the scale, California's Bay Area GDP is about $550B, one third of China's Bay Area.

    --
    "Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:04AM (1 child)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:04AM (#753432) Journal

      Yes, well, artist's conceptions are often unrealistic. I've seen artist's conceptions make a paper mill look sexy. In real life, paper mills are dirty, smelly, and easy to get lost in because the mill requires so many support activities that the artist doesn't understand.

      • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:28AM

        by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Thursday October 25 2018, @01:28AM (#753451) Homepage Journal

        I can't recall the name of it just now. He was a carpenter, one of his jobs was for the half-owner of Dreyer's Ice Cream. His house cost $5M.

        He once told me that sometimes - just sometimes - the architects visit to see the result of their handiwork, and are always amazed. To them, luxury homes were all just drawing.

        Paragon Fine Custom Homes, that's it. Mostly on the east side of SFBay.

        --
        Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]