ABSTRACT
China is located between the Circum-Pacic Seismic Belt and the Eurasian Seismic Belt, extruded by the Pacic Plate, the Indian Plate and the Philippine Sea Plate, with intensive distribution of earthquake fault. Chinese Taipei is located on the Circum-Pacic Seismic Belt; several provinces such as Xizang, Xinjiang, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Qinghai are located on the Eurasian Seismic Belt. Dozens of major earthquakes have occurred in Chinese history. Bridge damage during the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake prompted Chinese engineers to develop highway bridge seismic design criteria. Learned from the past earthquakes and foreign experiences, Specifications of Earthquake Resistant Design for Highway Engineering (Interim) (China-MOC, 1977) was published in 1977. Specifications of Earthquake Resistant Design for Highway Engineering, JTJ 004-89 (China-MOC, 1989) (hereaer referred to as 89 Specifications) was formally promulgated in 1989, Guidelines for Seismic Design of Highway Bridges, JTG/T B02-01-2008 (China-MOT, 2008) (hereaer referred as to 08 Guidelines) was promulgated in 2008, and the new version of Specifications of Earthquake Resistant Design for Highway Engineering and Guidelines of Seismic Performance Evaluation for Highway Bridges (hereaer referred to as Evaluation Guidelines) are currently under development and are expected to be published in 2012.
