At 1:00 AM Thursday, two buildings located at the site of the
142-year-old?Shiliupu Dock in Shanghai were demolished in a
50-second controlled explosion. With the leveling of the Shenke
Restaurant and the Passenger Terminal Building, the last vestiges
of the historic?Shiliupu Dock disappeared from the original
site.
Originally known as the Jinliyuan Dock, the old structure was
built by the Meiqichang Company in 1862. In its heyday, more than
40,000 people traversed the dock daily -- over 6.7 million a year
-- as they arrived in or departed Shanghai. It was the largest
passenger transport dock in China.
But in recent years, with the rapid development of road and air
transport, passenger flow at the?Shiliupu Dock has dropped
dramatically.
In accordance with the overall development plans for the banks
of the Huangpu River, last September the?Shiliupu Dock was
moved to the Wusong Passenger Transport Center at Shanghai Port, at
the juncture of the Huangpu and Yangtze rivers.
The demolition of the buildings at the old dock site began last
month.
This morning's explosion was successful, with no damage to the
nearby flood prevention wall or Bank of Shanghai building, said Tan
Ling, a senior engineer with the Nanjing Engineer College, which
was in charge of the explosion.
An upscale aquatic tourism center, scheduled to be completed in
three years, will be constructed at the site.
(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, December 2, 2004)