People view the sunrise scene at the Bund in Shanghai, east China, January 1, 2017. (Photo by Wang Hechun/Xinhua/Barcroft Images)

Students exercise in body training at Bishan Vocational Education Center in Chongqing, southwest China, January 13, 2016. These students were trained to be stewardesses of the high-speed train. (Photo by Xie Jie/Xinhua)

A Vietnamese woman, wearing the traditional “ao dai” long dress, poses for photos along peach blossom flowers ahead of the Vietnamese “Tet” (Lunar New Year festival), in a field in Hanoi, Vietnam, February 2, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/Kham)

Kirby Chambliss of the United States flies in formation with Matt Hall of Australia, Yoshihide Muroya of Japan and Nigel Lamb of Britain prior to the third stage of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship in front of the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 15, 2014. (Photo by Joerg Mitter/Red Bull via Reuters)

While the lido was described as bringing “modernism to the masses” on the British coast it was just the latest example of a trend that had been developing since Victorian times – transforming seaside towns into resorts for leisure and entertainment. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, the fashion was for local authorities to build great piers stretching from the promenade out into the sea. The Eastbourne Pier, pictured here in May 1931, was erected between 1866 and 1870 to an ingenious design by Eugenius Birch, which saw the structure sitting on special cups allowing the supporting struts to “move” in bad weather. Arranged on the pier's 1,000-foot length were kiosks, a theatre, a ballroom and a camera obscura. 1931. (Photo by Aerofilms Collection via “A History of Britain From Above”)

People make their way on an algae-covered beach in Qingdao, Shandong province, China, July 19, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

In this May 17, 2015, photo, two men walk past pagodas at Ngwe Saung beach, Pathein township, about 145 miles from Yangon, Myanmar. (Photo by Khin Maung Win/AP Photo)

People take part in the Classic Ride Rally in downtown Valencia, eastern Spain, 23 November 2014. Some hundred people on classic bikes from the 20's to the 70's participated in the rally. (Photo by Kai Foersterling/EPA)