The Hangzhou Bay Bridge connecting Ningbo with Shanghai is now open to traffic.

Here are some pictures from the opening ceremony. I got invited! We had a special permit in our car, and we got to go through several police roadblocks, which was undeniably cool.

The view from the back of the crowd. Everybody got a nifty commemorative hat (except me). Evidently I was in the crowd shots from this nationally televised ceremony, because a couple of people texted me to say they saw me.

They had these cool "smoke fireworks". I guess daytime was too bright to see fireworks, so they used these instead. I had never seen this before, it was really spiffy.

The bridge itself is smooth and clean. The highways leading to the bridge are the best I've ever seen in China. Smooth as silk. I have terrible memories of the bumpy Yongtaiwen Expressway to Wenzhou...

This will be a little service island in the middle of the bridge. I'm not really sure why they need this - maybe it's just vanity. It's not finished yet, but it'll look space-age when it's done.

I met with the Right Worshipful the Lord Mayor of Nottingham. He had real a chain of office on! It was a real pleasure to meet him and have a chat while the speakers droned endlessly on. He assured me that Ningbo Guide will receive attention in Nottingham. The sister cities relationship between Ningbo and Nottingham, UK is one of the more active sister cities programs. Usually, these plans don't amount to much more than school exchanges, but Nottingham seems to be taking it seriously. Good for them. They've even set up a Business Development Office in Ningbo, click to check it out.