[5][6] The pontoon bridge improved transportation, but during high water it would be impassable, and during winter, it was damaged by ice.

[7] In 1866 Zuo Zongtang, governor of Gansu and Shaanxi, decided that an iron bridge had to be built.

[10] Later that year, construction of an iron bridge was negotiated successfully with the German company Telge & Schroeter operating out of Tianjin.

The bridge was designed by an American company and would have a maximum load of 8 tonnes, meant for horse-drawn carriages.

[11] Steel truss components, cement and a variety of equipment and machinery was all brought in from Germany through the port of Tianjin.