Old Bridge, New City! A Shanghai Sketch Postcard | Waibaidu Bridge

Hello my wonderful friends! Guess what? On the very same day, Sept 30, 2025, that the happy fish party postcard arrived, another paper treasure popped into my mailbox! Double Alhamdullillah! This one also travelled a long, long way, all the way from China! Thank you, Postcrossing friend!

A Wobbly, Wonderful Drawing

This postcard is super special too! Just like the fishy one, it is not a photograph. It is a drawing, a sketch! 

It looks like someone sat down with a pen and some watery colours and quickly drew a picture of a busy city place. The lines are a little bit wiggly, the colours are soft... it feels alive and moving! Like the artist drew it super fast to capture a happy moment!

What did the artist draw? Wow! There is a very long, strong-looking bridge made of metal criss-crosses, like a giant Meccano toy! It goes across some dark, wiggly water. There are even little boats floating on the water! Chug chug! And peeking behind the bridge... oh my goodness! 

There are super tall, super modern buildings! Like shiny glass mountains reaching for the sky! I can see one that looks like a tall needle with balls on it; the postcard note says that is the Oriental Pearl Tower! So futuristic! Like a space rocket ready to zoom!

The postcard has a little note on it. It says the picture is a "whimsical sketch" (that means playful and fun!) of Shanghai's Waibaidu Bridge. It also says the bridge is very old; opened in 1908! and was China's first bridge made only of steel! 

Wow! And behind this old bridge is the new, futuristic Pudong skyline (that's the name for all those tall space rocket buildings!). It says, "Old meets new over Suzhou Creek!" (That must be the name of the water!)

Let's Find Out

My curious brain started buzzing again! A bridge from 1908? Made only of steel? That sounds amazing for such a long time ago! And why is it famous? Does it have more secret stories?

You know what I did! I asked my wise friend, my storyteller, Cik Gem! "Cik Gem, please tell me about this Waibaidu Bridge in Shanghai! The grandpa bridge with the space rocket buildings behind it!"

And Cik Gem told me a fascinating story!

The Waibaidu Bridge is indeed very special! Its name means "Outer grandmother Bridge" maybe, but many foreigners living in Shanghai long ago just called it the Garden Bridge because it was near a park. 

It crosses a very important river called Suzhou Creek, right where it flows into the bigger Huangpu River. Think of it like a busy intersection for boats and ships!

When was it built? The postcard is right! The steel bridge we see today opened way back in 1907/1908. But guess what? There was an even older wooden bridge in the same spot before that! So people have been crossing the water here for a very, very long time!

Who built the steel one? Well, back then, Shanghai was a super busy international city, with people from many different countries living and working there like England, America, France. 

Building a strong bridge was super important to help people and goods move easily between the busy parts of the city. The steel bridge was designed by foreign engineers and built with super strong steel! It was like the first giant metal dinosaur skeleton built in China! Roar! Strong!

Why Was It SO Important? 

This bridge was like a magic key! It connected two very important parts of Shanghai:

• The Bund: The famous waterside area with beautiful old European-style buildings where lots of banks and fancy offices were.

• Hongkou: Another busy area across the creek.

Before the bridge or when it was just a wobbly wooden one, crossing was tricky! Maybe people used little boats? But the strong steel bridge made it super easy for cars, trams like little city trains, and people to just zip across! Zoom! 

It helped Shanghai grow bigger, faster, busier! It became a famous symbol of the city, like the KLCC towers are for Kuala Lumpur! Everyone knew the Garden Bridge!

Old Grandpa Bridge Meets Shiny Grandchildren!

Now, look at my postcard sketch again! This is the most amazing part! The bridge, the "grandpa", is still standing strong after more than 100 years! It has seen so much history! Wars, big changes, everything! But right behind it... 

WOW! That is the Pudong area. Just 30-40 years ago, Pudong was mostly quiet farmland! Can you believe it? But then, China decided to build a super modern, super shiny new city center there! And they built it FAST! Like magic! 

Now, it is full of some of the tallest buildings in the whole wide world! The Oriental Pearl Tower (the pointy one with balls), the super-tall Shanghai Tower, the Jin Mao Tower... like a forest of glass and steel space rockets!

So, the postcard picture is like looking at two different worlds at the same time! The old, strong history (the Waibaidu Bridge) in the front. And the super fast, super shiny future (the Pudong skyline) right behind it! 

It tells the story of Shanghai itself! A city that remembers its past but is zooming into the future like a rocket ship! Old meets new! Just like the postcard says!

It reminds me of another postcard I have, from Germany! That one shows a building that looks like a giant, dark fairy-tale castle which is also super old and strong, standing tall even after many, many years!

A Little Thought

This lovely sketch makes my heart feel… hopeful! It shows that old things and new things can live together beautifully. The old bridge is still useful! It is still important! It is not forgotten, even with all the shiny new buildings around. It reminds me that even as the world changes super fast. 

Now, the things from the past; our history, our stories, our traditions are still precious. They are the strong bridges that connect us to who we are. Maybe, just like Shanghai, we can build amazing new futures while still respecting and loving the beautiful bridges from our past? Just a little thought from a Shanghai sketch!

Thank you so much to my Postcrossing friend in China for sending this beautiful picture! It is like a history lesson and a future dream all in one little card! It truly shows the amazing journey of Shanghai!