Massive infrastructure projects developed in Hong Kong make for big challenges and unique opportunities for engineers and researchers. The construction of the cables-stayed Stonecutters Bridge sets up a new landmark in the bridge engineering community, with its main span exceeding 1,000 m as well as its sophisticated instrumentation system comprising more than 1,500 sensors. The development of structural health monitoring (SHM) technology has evolved for over 10 years in Hong Kong since the

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... ementation of the so-called "Wind And Structural Health Monitoring System (WASHMS)" on the suspension Tsing Ma Bridge in 1997. The successful engineering paradigms of implementing and operating SHM systems for five cable-supported bridges and experiences gained by practice and research in the past decade have promoted the applications of this technology beyond Hong Kong and extending from long-span bridges to high-rise structures. In this paper, the evolution in the design methodology for SHM systems, the advancement in several aspects of SHM technology, and a performance comparison between the early implemented and lately developed SHM systems for large-scale bridges are first outlined. Subsequently, the concept of the so-called "life-cycle structural health monitoring (LSHM)" is addressed by exploring the integration of in-construction monitoring and in-service monitoring and by realizing such an integrated system to a super-tall tower structure. The issue on how an SHM system benefits structural vibration control is also discussed.