Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Two Chinese bridges among world's most incredible bridges

Two bridges in China are among 11 bridges that are considered the most incredible in the world.

The bridges, listed in a CNN article, are works of art as much as a way for people and vehicles to get from one place to another.

Both Chinese bridges on the list have not opened yet, though one, Zhangjiajie Canyon Bridge is scheduled to open in May 2016. Designed by Haim Dotan, it will be the largest glass bottom bridge in the world. At 68 feet long and 718 feet high, the bridge will be used for bungee jumping as well as host fashion shows.

The Lucky Knot Bridge at Changsha is scheduled to open later in 2016. Red knots are said to bring good luck in China. Designed by NEXT Architects, the bridge, which is red, resembles the decorative Chinese knots, only a whole lot bigger.

Friday, April 22, 2016

Chinese park among world's best national parks

A park in China made the list of the 30 best national parks in the world. The list was compiled by Colorado travel writer Anne Dirkse. The article was originally published on CNN in 2014, but CNN recycled it for Earth Day 2016.

The lone Chinese park on the list is Zhangjiajie Forest National Park in southcentral China's Hunan Province. The park is famous for its pillar-like rock formation that were formed by erosion.

Spread over 50 square miles, some of the rock formations are topped by trees; some 500 species of trees can be found in the park, as well as a variety of wildlife, including monkeys and birds.

The park started out as a tree farm in 1958 and became a national park in 1982.  It is on the list of UNESCO's World Geoparks.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Beijing's airport one of world's busiest

Flying over northeast China
en route to Beijing
It should come as no surprise to anyone who's ever flown into Beijing that the city's Capital International Airport is one busy place. If fact, it's the second busiest airport in the world, handling nearly 90 million passengers in 2015.

The label of world's busiest airport again went to the United States' Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, which processed more than 100 million passengers in 2915, according to a CNN article based on traffic data from the Airport Council International.

No. 8 on the list is Hong Kong International Airport with 68 million passengers. Hong Kong also was named the world's busiest cargo airport. Shanghai was the third busiest cargo airport in the world in 2015.