A group of Chinese female welders are protecting the “lives” of China’s high bridges with their diligence, expertise and innovation.

The Siduhe Bridge

An interesting website called “the highest bridges” that ranks bridges from all over the world recently went viral on Chinese social media. According to the website, by the end of April, eight of the world’s top 10 and 82 of the top 100 bridges were located in China. Most of these high bridges are built in mountainous areas with a previous lack of transportation and access, serving as arteries for local economies and contributing to the well-being of the people.

It is impossible to assemble these bridges in advance or stack the parts like Lego blocks. As a result, welding is necessary to connect the huge metal pieces during construction.

What lies behind China’s success of bridge construction, apart from the country’s technological advances, is a group of female welders who are plain but magical.

Wang Zhongmei

Wang Zhongmei, a senior female welder with 17 years of experience, is one of them. She has participated in more than 40 bridge projects in the past 17 years, including 13 on the Yangtze River, 8 on the Yellow River and 9 on the Gan River, tackling a series of challenges with her team. She has worked for China Railway Jiujiang Bridge Engineering Co. Ltd. as a welder since she completed her academic studies in bridge construction at a vocational school in 2002.

In 2005, after only 3 years of work, Wang made her name during the construction of the world’s former highest Siduhe Bridge, which has a high demand of welding skills. After studying the details, Wang volunteered to finish the task, and all of her welding joints were proven to be excellent at the first quality inspection.

She also came up with an innovative and easy method to increase the efficiency of welding steel plates after finding the traditional practice consumed a lot of time and energy. The method was later named after Wang in recognition of her contribution and she was promoted within the firm.

Wang Zhongmei at work

“There’s no difference between male and female welders, we can also carry the welding materials that weigh tens of kilograms,” Wang said. “Not only me, but everyone in my team will be able to become an expert after training,” she added.

Wang inherited her spirit and skills from her father, who was also an excellent welder. This explains why she chose the arduous position and has persisted for so many years. As a woman, Wang is also image-conscious and enjoys dressing up. It is a love for the skills and responsibility that has made her stick to her position.

“The old generation of workers, just like my father, have created the country’s glory, and the torch is in our hands now and we should do better,” she noted. 

Wang Zhongmei and her colleagues