President Xi Jinping has officially opened a mega-bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macao, and Zhuhai. Our reporter, He Weiwei, spoke with one of the projects senior engineers about its breakthroughs.

LIN WEI, SENIOR ENGINEER OF ISLAND AND TUNNEL PROJECT HONG KONG-ZHUHAI-MACAO BRIDGE "There were quite a few engineering achievements and technical advancement, especially in the design and construction of the island and the tunnel. The island was built by a novel method of inserting big cylinders into the ground, so as to reduce the dredging volume in the sea, to protect the environment, it turned out to be that for the Chinese white dolphin in this region, their living was little disturbed by the construction, and their population was not decreased but increased to almost double during the construction. And, we built a tunnel that is the longest roadway immersed tunnel in the world, and this immersed tunnel has the deepest elevation below the seabed in the world."

HE WEIWEI ZHUHAI "Some described the bridge as one of the seven wonders in the modern world, what does this bridge mean for China's engineering industry?"

LIN WEI, SENIOR ENGINEER OF ISLAND AND TUNNEL PROJECT HONG KONG-ZHUHAI-MACAO BRIDGE "There were many astonishing projects in China. The HZMB project is one of them. During the work, we had encountered many problems caused by the complex environment such as the changing weather, the unknown marine phenomenon, and the sedimentation. We solved these problems by cooperating closely with the scientists and professionals of various background to get a better understanding of the problem, to look through the problems, go beyond them, and to find the best possible solutions, and to develop new facilities and equipment. In short, this project as with many other excellent projects in China shows our engineers' ability to deal with the complex project and systematic problem by the approach of innovation."

HE WEIWEI ZHUHAI "The bridge withstood a super typhoon one month ago, what did engineers do to make the bridge safe?"

LIN WEI, SENIOR ENGINEER OF ISLAND AND TUNNEL PROJECT HONG KONG-ZHUHAI-MACAO BRIDGE "In design, we considered the worst scenarios that could happen to the bridge. We counted the sea rising level due to global warming in 120 years, we counted the extreme waves, extreme current and maximum wind, we calculated the accidental case of ship collision and ship sinking to the bridge and to the tunnel. And in the construction since 2013, after the invasion of the super-severe typhoon Haiyan to south pacific, we further raised the hazard prevention standard of this project. Up to now, the site had also withstood the frontal attack of the typhoon Hato."