For thousands of years, people have loved and praised bridges for the following reasons:
First of all, the bridge has a practical function. It is an extension of the road and brings convenience to people. Without bridges, people are disconnected.
Secondly, bridges have artistic functions. Bridges can blend into the environment and beautify it. A famous bridge is definitely a beautiful sight.
Thirdly, this bridge has rich cultural heritage. The West Lake in Hangzhou with broken snow, the Ba Bridge in Xi'an with blooming dark flowers, and the Slender West Lake in Yangzhou with twenty-four bridges on a moonlit night all have rich cultural connotations.
Han bridge culture takes bridge as an entity and reflects the ideological, cultural and scientific and technological achievements of various eras. It is a typical sample of social productivity levels in different historical periods and demonstrates human beings' ability to conquer nature.
1. Bridges have rich cultural connotations. Politicians focus on creating a bridging political culture. In ancient times, "serving an official for one term" was the ideal of honest officials, and building bridges and roads was their important political goal. It is an excellent political and cultural tradition that the ruler personally presides over the construction of bridges.
2. Religious believers have injected religious culture into this bridge. Religious believers donated money to build the bridge. They always leave the names of good men and women on bridges and monuments. The lotus stone carvings on the bridge belong to Buddhist culture. The Eight Immortals model belongs to Taoist culture. There is the theory that the three religions of the Han people have the same origin, and there is the cultural phenomenon of the three religions forming bridges on ancient bridges.
3. Bridge technology experts create fantastic sculptures on the bridge. Artists design various bridge decoration works according to the needs of folk culture. The stone lions at the head of the bridge and the stone sculptures of various water-absorbing animals have become the patron saint of the bridge.
Traditional national bridge decorations such as lion stone carvings, unicorn stone carvings, elephant stone carvings, bridge railing gourd stone carvings, double dragons playing with unicorns, and double lions playing with hydrangea stone carvings all have different local characteristics. The cast iron inlaid railings on the railings of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge are more exquisite and are still praised today.
4. Different scholars have created bridge culture from different perspectives. For example, many bridge nodes, bridge monuments, bridge names, bridge paintings, bridge photography, bridge calligraphy, bridge science and technology theory, bridge social science theory, bridge monographs, bridge papers, bridge stories, bridge literary works, bridge film and television works, bridge websites, etc. It is a product of bridge culture.
5. Historical events and characters related to bridges will also give bridge culture specific connotations. For example, Luding Bridge has the military culture of the Red Army crossing the river; Marco Polo Bridge has the political culture of the Anti-Japanese War created by the July 7th Incident. Qiao Ting has the celebrity culture of Ye Ting, the famous Northern Expedition general.
6. Bridge culture has a lot of sociological content. In ancient Han society, all the people donated money to build roads and bridges and built bridges voluntarily. With this special ancient bridge, it is stipulated that "civilian officers dismount and military attachés dismount."
This is an ancient bridge between national culture and folk culture. There are specific methods and regulations for the financing, management and use of ancient bridges, the construction and maintenance of bridges, and the setting up of checkpoints, inns, docks, temples, bridge pavilions, towns, markets, and stages during the construction of ancient bridges.
This is Guqiao’s organizational management culture. The study of bridge culture gave birth to the new category of bridge culture. Such as bridge archeology, bridge tourism economics, ancient bridge valuation, ancient bridge maintenance and protection, ancient bridge construction, etc. These new cultural categories will promote the development of new industrial categories.