A worker breaks a love lock attached to the Waibaidu Bridge railings yesterday. A total of eight locks were removed from the bridge. — Wang Rongjiang
Romance may be in the air but the protectors of the Waibaidu Bridge, a city landmark, aren't having any of it.
With the Valentine's Day just a little over a week away, love locks are being removed from the historic bridge after local media reported about it.
"We have removed as many as eight locks this morning," a worker surnamed Zhou said yesterday.
The locks were attached to the railings of the bridge which is located at the north end of the Bund and witness to many a love stories.
Security guards patrolling the 100-meter-long bridge said the love locks are considered an act of vandalism.
"We cannot stop people from putting up the locks all the time but we make sure they are all removed," one of the guards, who refused to divulge his name, told Shanghai Daily yesterday.
He said they do not remove or break the locks themselves but usually report it to the local office which supervises the Bund. But Zhou, who has been working daily on the 2-kilometer-long Bund for years, said they were rarely called to remove locks from the bridge, suggesting it was not an everyday occurrence.
Zhou said love locks have also been seen on the waterfront railings at the Bund as well. "I remember removing two of them last year," Zhou said. "Graffitis are also a bigger nuisance."
Shanghai Daily did not find any lock vendors near the bridge.
Waibaidu Bridge was first built in 1856. The wooden bridge over Suzhou Creek got a makeover in 1908, becoming the first steel truss bridge in China, and also the largest steel bridge in Shanghai then.
The bridge underwent an overhaul in 2008 when it was dismantled and relocated to a shipyard for repairs.
The popularity of the bridge has been boosted by its appearances in many romance movies and TV series.
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