Luohu Bridge, a century-old gateway connecting Shenzhen and Hong Kong, was scheduled to be moved to Hong Kong late Sunday and early Monday.

Workers Sunday afternoon were preparing a temporary railway on which the entire 36-meter bridge's steel structure would be moved.

The steel structure, weighing up to some 250 tons, would be moved about 18.5 meters on rails to the Hong Kong side, said He Xiuchun, who is in charge of the project.

The bridge will be displayed as a cultural relic alongside the Wutong River near the Hong Kong Luohu Station.

"The bridge witnessed many important historical events like the Guangdong-Hong Kong General Strike in the 1920s and the return of Hong Kong in 1997," said Wu Zengde, a retired cultural relic protection worker in Shenzhen.

A new bridge will be in use in 2004 with much better flood protection, CCTV said. It could raise the flood protection standard of the Shenzhen River to one in 50 years instead of one in two to five years, CCTV reported.

First built in 1906, the bridge was destroyed and rebuilt during the war against the Japanese invaders in the 1940s. It was rebuilt in 1957.

The average daily passenger flow was only about 50 before 1981 but the number now is 260,000 to 270,000.

(Shenzhen Daily September 29, 2003)