Above the Cloudline

Danjiang Bridge — Encounters — Our Narratives

Encounters | Photography

Danjiang Bridge

A series by Shirley Wung

Danjiang Bridge in a sea of clouds, Tamsui River estuary. Image credit: © Shirley Wung

I had been waiting for a morning like this. What arrived was not just fog — it was a sea.

Our Narratives · Encounters Series · New Taipei City, 2026

Editor's Note

There are mornings when the weather does something no forecast predicts and no lens is quite ready for. On March 18, 2026, photographer Shirley Wung was positioned high on Guanyin Mountain's Hardman Ridge when a rare ground-hugging advection fog rolled in from the Taiwan Strait, swallowed Taipei Port whole, and crept inland along the Tamsui River, erasing the city beneath a slow-moving sea of cloud.

What emerged from that fog was not merely a bridge, but a structure held between engineering, weather, and first light.

Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, Danjiang Bridge spans 450 metres across the mouth of the Tamsui River with a single sculptural 200-metre concrete mast, currently the world's longest single-tower asymmetric cable-stayed bridge. On this particular morning, the mast and its radiating cables caught the first light of dawn while everything beneath disappeared into the rolling white.

— Adelina

The Encounter

From Hardman Ridge on Guanyin Mountain, I watched the ultra-low advection fog arrive with the force of a weather event. It was not drifting, but surging, covering Taipei Port completely and pushing inland along the Tamsui River in waves.

It moved like something alive, churning and threading between landmarks at Fisherman's Wharf, Lovers Bridge, the Coast Guard buildings, and the port structures, as if it knew exactly where it was going.

And then the light came.

Golden morning light pierced the fog and gilded the bridge's cables and mast, turning Danjiang Bridge into something rising from the clouds.

This was not just a play of light and shadow. It was the moment when nature and a new landmark of New Taipei City wove themselves into something brief, unrepeatable, and almost impossible to summon again.

I shot from Hardman Ridge using my Canon EOS R5 Mark II with the RF 70-200mm lens on a Gitzo tripod. The fog was moving. I had a window of minutes.

— Shirley Wung

Danjiang Bridge mast above fog — The 200-metre concrete mast of Danjiang Bridge catches first light while the 450-metre span dissolves into the cloud below. Hardman Ridge, Guanyin Mountain, New Taipei City, March 18, 2026. Image: © Shirley Wung

About the Bridge

Danjiang Bridge spans the mouth of the Tamsui River, which flows through Taipei. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the bridge's single 200-metre concrete mast was engineered to be as slender as possible while safely supporting the 450-metre central span in extreme weather conditions and seismic events.

Its position within the river and the height of the road deck above the water were calculated through detailed 3D modelling, both to maintain safe passage for river vessels and to preserve sunset views from popular viewpoints along the shore.

Danjiang Bridge mast above clouds — The mast and a few building crowns are all that remain above the cloud. Tamsui River estuary, New Taipei City, March 18, 2026. Image: © Shirley Wung

Coda

Shirley Wung is a Taiwan-based photographer known for her landscape and aerial work documenting the natural phenomena of northern Taiwan.

This series was photographed on March 18, 2026, from Guanyin Mountain's Hardman Ridge, New Taipei City, using a Canon EOS R5 Mark II with RF 70-200mm lens.

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