What changed
Longmen Bridge, Guangxi’s first kilometre-scale sea-crossing suspension bridge, has turned a 1.5-hour drive between Fangchenggang and Qinzhou ports into a journey of about 25 minutes. Since opening in December 2024, the 7.637-kilometre bridge has helped lift oyster sales, tourism and traffic around Longmen Port Town, where peak daily crossings have reached 36,000 vehicles.
Why it matters
The bridge is changing what can reach this once-remote stretch of coast. Oyster producer Liu Yueji says his company’s annual output value exceeds 10 million yuan, with products shipped to Guangdong and Hainan. Now customers are also driving directly to the fishing port to buy oysters and have them prepared at nearby restaurants.
That matters because the bridge is doing more than moving cars. It links coastal attractions and seafood businesses around the Maowei Sea, including the Qizhongjing mangrove reserve and other local sites. Longmen Port Town, home to just over 8,000 people, has added more than 10 tourism projects, from shellfish gathering and sea fishing to immersive experiences of fishing-village life.
The new traffic is already visible in the businesses built around the route. A floating seafood restaurant on a 7,600-square-metre platform overlooks the bridge, while nearby plans include a visitor centre, product market, themed guesthouses and fishermen’s restaurants. The local bet is clear: make the coast easier to reach, then give visitors reasons to stay and spend.
The bridge appears to be accelerating regional integration, but the figures do not measure total economic growth or prove that every increase came from the bridge alone. Even so, the combination of shorter travel, rising visitor traffic and fuller seafood businesses shows how a single piece of infrastructure can redraw the economic map of a shoreline.
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