An eight-ton truck passed over the bridge which allows a maximum load of 90 tons and has a service life of 20 to 30 years, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The bridge, 3.4 metres wide and nine metres long, looks like a concrete bridge from the top but its nine bamboo girders could be seen from beneath and it is covered by bamboo boards, it said.

Workers took less than 10 days to assemble the bridge in which fibre-glass reinforced plastics had also been used to ensure safety, Xiao Yan, dean of the college of civil engineering of Hunan University which designed it said.

Yan said bamboo could cut the cost of footbridges in cities and bridges in the countryside by half.

Parts of the bridge were made in a workshop before being transported to the town, Shan Bo, a member of the design group, said.