Yalu River Broken Bridge

 

 

Entrance to the bridge and memorial

 

 

Only two hours or so inland from the Yellow Sea and at the mouth of the Yalu River lies Dandong. It being a port city and because of its location on the border of China and North Korea, it has seen its share of historic events in the last century. It inevitably houses a lot of bridges, many of which were built during the Japanese occupation and then bombed during the Korean War. More famous due to its being the first railway bridge, the Yalu River Broken Bridge is a top tourist attraction when visiting Dandong. 

 

 

 

Under the Broken Bridge looking at the Friendship Bridge

 

 

 

People flock to see traverse the Broken Bridge

 

 

 

Looking pretty by some vestiges of war

 

 

 

The bridge used to be a railway

 

 

 

A stele memorial looking out to the Friendship Bridge (still connected to China's neighbor)

 

 

 

Trying to recreate the 1940's photos of the bridge

 

 

One cool thing about the bridge is its middle panel which, in its heyday, rotated to create a path for passing ships. Then it was bombed by the American Army during the war. The gears for the rotating panel still stand, but where the bridge ends is a tangled mass of steel.

 

 

At the site of the bombing

 

 

To give you a picture of how long the bridge is (over 900 meters), here is what's left of the Broken Bridge next to the Friendship Bridge, which people still use to get to and from North Korea. These photos are taken from the halfway point, or where the bridge was bombed.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now it's time to play "Which Side is Which?"! Here's how it works: I show you a photograph and you guess which country it shows, China or North Korea.

 

 

China or North Korea?

 

 

 

China or North Korea? 

 

 

China or North Korea?

 

 

China or North Korea?

 

 

Chinese or North Koreans?

 

 

China or North Korea?

 

 

 

Chinese or North Korean?

 

 

Chinese or North Korean?

Just kidding! They're birds...get it?

 

 

 

Here are just some fun pictures from the boat ride. We're right in the middle of the river, so I can't ask you to guess who owns what (although I'm sure there's an answer).

 

 

The Friendship Bridge

 

 

Lazy me got the best view

 

 

A mysterious North Korean house/office boat

 

 

I won't make you guess. This is a North Korean boat and we're completely at a loss as to what it's used for. If you look closely at the back, caged part you'll see something that confounded us even more.

 

 

Do you see it yet?

 

 

Could it be? There's a basketball court onboard! What?!

I wonder if it's Kim Jung-Ohn's personal basketball/business yacht, but I suppose that's a question for another era.