On this day, 43 years ago, on November 3, 1982 (September 18, 1982, the lunar calendar), Mao Yisheng was awarded the title of Foreign Academician of the American Society of Engineering. Bridge expert Mao Yisheng (January 9, 1896-November 12, 1989) On November 3, 1982, Mao Yisheng, a famous bridge expert in China and vice chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology, was awarded the title of Foreign Academician of the National Engineering Society in the United States at the 18th Annual Meeting of the Society. The National Engineering Society of the United States was established in 1964. It is the most advanced academic institution in engineering in the United States, with 1099 domestic academicians and 97 foreign academicians. Professor Mao Yisheng is the first scientist in China to be awarded the title of foreign academician of the society. He arrived in the United States on October 27 to attend a ceremony at which the society awarded him the title. On the next page,"Mao Yisheng and the Qiantang River Bridge", when people mention the Qiantang River Bridge, they will think of Mao Yisheng. Mao Yisheng himself recalled many years later: "Since December 1919, I returned to China to serve society. During the decades-long journey, the most eye-catching work I have done is presiding over the construction of the Qiantang River Bridge project." The Qiantang River Bridge was built in the midst of the war of resistance against Japan. It not only wrote an epic page in the Chinese nation's struggle against foreign invaders, but also a milestone in the history of bridge construction in my country. It is also the cradle of bridge engineers in my country. The legend experienced by this bridge is the most unforgettable. In the 1930s, a bridge was needed to be built over the Qiantang River to connect the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Railway under construction with the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway. In 1934, Mao Yisheng, then director of the Qiantang River Bridge Bridge Engineering Department, was appointed to preside over the first steel bridge project built by China itself. Previously, although there were some bridges along China's rivers, they were all built by foreigners: the Jinan Yellow River Bridge was built by Germans, the Bengbu Huaihe River Bridge was built by Americans, and the Harbin Songhua River Bridge was built by Russians... It is conceivable that Mao Yisheng is shouldering an unprecedented responsibility. He wants to use his wisdom to prove that the Chinese are capable of building modern bridges. The Qiantang River, also known as the Qianjiang River, is located at the mouth of the sea. The tides and rivers are surging, and the storms are very dangerous. The Qian River tide standing at the top of the tide and the uncertain sediment changing with the water flow are two major problems in building a bridge. Mao Yisheng overcame many difficulties in the process of building the bridge. He used "water jetting method","caisson method","floating method", etc. to solve technical problems in building the bridge and ensure the progress of the bridge project. By 1937, when the bridge was about to be completed, the "August 13" War broke out in Shanghai! The Qiantang River Bridge withstood the baptism of the war of resistance against Japan before it was delivered for use. Mao Yisheng said that on the day after August 13, that is, August 14, three Japanese aircraft came to bomb the construction site. At that time, he was discussing problems with several engineers and supervisors in the caisson 30 meters underwater at Pier No. 6. Suddenly, all the lights in the caisson went out and it was dark. It turned out that due to the Japanese aircraft bombing, all the lights on the construction site had been turned off. This Japanese bombing was the first in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The project was not finished, and the war had already reached the Qiantang River. At this time, there was still an unfinished bridge pier in the river, and the two-hole steel beams on the pier could not be installed. For more than 40 days after that, the workers building the bridge shared the same hatred and worked hard day and night with great patriotic enthusiasm, braving the dust and smoke of enemy bombs exploding, they accelerated work day and night. On the early morning of September 26, 1937, the first train passed through the bridge. On the day it opened to traffic, trains carrying large quantities of arms and supplies began to pass through the bridge one after another. Since then, the anti-Japanese war situation in Shanghai has become more and more tense day by day. On the afternoon of November 16 of the same year, an instructor from Nanjing Engineering School found Mao Yisheng at the Bridge Engineering Office, showed him a top secret document of the Nanjing government, and briefly introduced the current very severe situation and said: "If Hangzhou is not protected, the Qiantang River Bridge will be built by Japan!" The Nanjing government's documents require blowing up the Qianjiang Bridge, which was a last resort. People from Nanjing also revealed that the explosives and explosive equipment needed to blow up the bridge had been transported directly from Nanjing and were in cars outside. The bridge was built with two and a half years of hard work. The railway had just opened to traffic, and he had to blow it up with his own hands. This was really a sad thing. Mao Yisheng was going through the most painful moment in his life. After consultation and careful consideration with engineering technicians, a plan for blowing the bridge was finally worked out. That night, all the explosives were placed in the second bridge pier on the south bank and on the rods of the five-hole steel beam. More than 100 leads were connected from detonation points to a house on the south bank, waiting for an order., blow up all five holes and one pier of the bridge. In the early morning of November 17, Mao Yisheng received an order from the Zhejiang Province government that due to the large number of refugees pouring into Hangzhou, there were not enough ferries, and the Qiantang River Bridge highway must be fully opened to traffic that day. At this time, the Zhejiang Province government did not know that explosives had just been installed on the bridge, so the matter was highly confidential. The road surface of the Bridge Road was completed more than a month ago. It has not yet been opened because of fear of enemy aircraft bombing. Why is it called open to traffic now? It turned out that there were usually 10,000 to 20,000 people traveling every day from Sanlangmiao in Hangzhou to the Crossing River Yidu in Xixing. After the war broke out in Shanghai, more people crossed the river. There were not enough boats to cross the river. Unexpectedly, another boat sank on the 16th. There were too many people waiting to cross the river. Coupled with the intensified war and the serious situation, the provincial government had no choice but to open the bridge. On that day, the bridge was fully opened to traffic. On this day, people who received the news came from Hangzhou and Ningbo. Thousands of people came to the Qiantang River under the Liuhe Tower. Even the Liuhe Tower was full of people. When the first car drove across the bridge, hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait applauded and the scene was very touching. But who could know that hundreds of kilograms of explosives were placed on the bridge at this time? This bridge, designed and constructed by China themselves, was facing the fate of being blown up on the day it was completed! On December 22, the Japanese army attacked Wukang and spy on Fuyang. Hangzhou was in danger. Needless to say, there were more pedestrians crossing south on the Qianjiang Bridge. In terms of railways, traffic between Shanghai and Nanjing was no longer open to traffic, and the Qianjiang Bridge became the only channel for evacuation. According to estimates by the Railway Bureau at that time, more than 300 locomotives and more than 2000 passenger and freight cars passed through the bridge on the 22nd. The next day, on December 23, 1937, the Japanese army began to attack Hangzhou. At about 1 p.m. that day, Mao Yisheng finally received the order: to blow up the bridge. At 3 p.m., preparations for blowing the bridge were all ready. He stood at the bridge and looked at the black mass of refugees pouring over on the bridge, and his heart surged with extreme anger towards the Japanese invaders. At 5 o'clock in the evening, the dust and smoke raised by the Japanese cavalry were already faintly visible. Mao Yisheng ordered the bridge to be closed, no passage was allowed, and blasting was carried out! With a loud noise, the 1453-meter long line of Wojiang River was cut off from six places. This modern bridge, which cost US$1.6 million after 925 days of intensive construction, only existed for 89 days. On the night when the bridge was blown up, Mao Yisheng wrote eight words in front of his desk: "The War of Resistance will be won, and this bridge will be restored"; and he wrote a poem,"The wind and clouds in the battle have changed color, the bridge will break the road with tears, the five elements lack fire, the fire will come, and the bridge will not be a husband without restoration." After the bridge was blown up, all the Bridge Engineering Office withdrew. Mao Yisheng retreated with all 14 boxes of important information such as charts, documents, and photos during the construction of the Qiantang River Bridge. Throughout the Anti-Japanese War, Mao Yisheng's family abandoned many belongings while fleeing the war, but they preserved all these precious materials and handed them over to the Shanghai Railway Bureau and the Zhejiang Province Archives after liberation. They became treasures in the national key archives and saved a lot of money for exploring the hydrological conditions of Hangzhou City and building the Second Qianjiang Bridge. This is for the future. After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was won, Mao Yisheng was ordered to organize the repair of the bridge. In March 1948, all restoration projects were completed, and the Qiantang River Bridge flew over the waves of the Qiantang River again. So far, the Qianjiang Bridge project presided over by Mao Yisheng has gone through three periods of bridge construction, bridge explosion and bridge repair in 14 years. This is an unprecedented event in the history of bridge construction at home and abroad in ancient times. Zeng Zhongming, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Railways, carried out a pile-driving ceremony for the construction of the Qiantang River Bridge, celebrating the construction of the bridge, and what it looked like after the explosion. Today's bridge