China ancient bridge architecture has a long history and outstanding achievements. For thousands of years, the working people have adapted to local conditions, used local materials, and used earth, wood, stone, brick, rattan, iron and other building materials to build millions of bridges with various types and novel structures, embellishing the country's mountains and rivers and adding magnificent colors.
There are many ancient capitals on both sides of the Yellow River, and materials are transported by mules and horses, so there are many flat and majestic stone arch bridges and Liang Shi bridges. Southeast water towns, rivers, lakes and swamps are dominated by boats, so there are stone arch bridges with humps. In the northwest and southwest, the peaks are overlapping, the valley is deep and steep, and it is difficult to build piers. Therefore, cable-stayed bridges and outrigger wooden beam bridges are built with rattan, bamboo and wood. In central and southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong and other places, hard granite can be seen everywhere, and Liang Shi Bridges built in past dynasties abound; Yunnan Dai and other areas are rich in bamboo forests, and unique bamboo bar bridges, bamboo beam bridges and bamboo suspension bridges still exist.
The ancient bridges in China not only made great achievements in artistic modeling, but also showed distinctive national style. Moreover, there are many original creations in bridge construction theory, structural treatment, plane layout and construction methods. Before the 12th century, it was always in the leading position as a bridge in the world, and attracted the attention of the world engineering community. For example, Kyle, an Italian who worked as an official in China for more than 20 years in the Yuan Dynasty? Poirot wrote in his masterpiece Kyle? In Polo's Travels, the Lugou Bridge in Beijing and the bridge in Hangzhou are described in detail, and it is considered that there may be no other bridge in the world that can be compared with Lugou Bridge, which makes Europe pay attention to Chinese bridges. 1577, a Portuguese also said that there are many large stone bridges in central Fujian, Liang Shi is big and beautifully carved, and praised the pontoon bridge in Ganxian County, Jiangxi Province, saying that "the number of construction workers in the world should be the highest in China". Tsar Peter I asked China to send bridge experts to Russia to teach bridge-building technology when he entrusted the delegation of Spartacus to visit China in May 1675. Recently, Professor Joseph Needham of Cambridge University, a world-renowned expert in the history of science and technology, wrote in his magnum opus "History of Science and Technology in China" that the ancient bridges in China "had an amazing development in the Song Dynasty, and a series of huge plate girder bridges were built, especially in Fujian Province, which China or any other place abroad could not compare with". These bridges are "almost every one is beautiful" and "a clever combination of reason and romance". He also thinks that the arch-stone arch bridge, which is more advanced than semi-circular arch and adopted in Europe in14th century, was spread to Europe from China.
First, the beam bridge
The beam bridge has a straight shape and was called a flat bridge in ancient times. Put wood or Liang Shi on both sides of the valley to form a beam bridge. The structure of the beam bridge is the simplest and the earliest. As early as the primitive society, there were wooden bridges with several logs in China. During the Warring States Period, single-span and multi-span wooden bridges and Liang Shi bridges were widely built in the Yellow River Basin and other areas. 1972, during the excavation of Linzi, Shandong Province, the capital of Qi State during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the ruins of Liang-style bridge and abutment were discovered for the first time, and the spans of both bridges were about 8 meters. According to Li Daoyuan's Notes on Water Classics in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there is a wooden beam bridge with 30 columns and a diameter of 5 feet on the Fenshui River in Shanxi. This bridge was built in Jinping Gong in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it is the earliest beam bridge recorded in ancient books. According to historical records? Biography of Su Qin records that during the Warring States Period, Su Qin told a story to the Prince: A man from Lu met a woman under the bridge, but she didn't come. In order to show that she didn't break her promise, Weisheng got up and didn't leave, holding Liang and died. According to legend, the bridge that died with the wooden pier under the bridge is a multi-span wooden beam and column bridge, which is located on the blue valley water in Wuli, southeast of Lantian County, Shaanxi Province, and is called Blue Bridge.
Second, the pontoon bridge
The pontoon bridge was called the pontoon beam in ancient times. It uses boats instead of piers, so it is called "floating", "floating truss" and "floating bridge" and belongs to temporary bridges. Because of its simple erection and rapid completion, pontoons are often used in the military, so they are also called "battle bridges".
China has a long history of building pontoons. Daya？ In Daming, it is recorded that Zhou Wenwang built a pontoon bridge on the Weihe River to get married. It has been 3,000 years since, and it is the earliest record of building a pontoon bridge. It is more than 500 years earlier than the earliest pontoon bridge built in the Bosphorus when Darius, the Persian king, invaded Greece, recorded by Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian. According to the research of later generations, pontoon bridge was a rare and expensive thing at that time. According to the etiquette system of the Zhou Dynasty, only "Tianzi" can be used, and it should be removed immediately after use. During the Warring States period, the rule that only the "son of heaven" was allowed to pass on the pontoon bridge collapsed.
In the Han and Tang Dynasties, the use of China pontoon bridge became more and more common. For thousands of years, countless pontoons have been built. In many areas, before building a permanent bridge, it is always necessary to build a pontoon bridge in order to explore and understand the water situation, and then seek a suitable permanent bridge type. The Luoyang Bridge mentioned above is an example. According to rough statistics, nearly 20 large pontoons have been erected on the Yangtze River and the Yellow River alone, most of which are military pontoons. During the Spring and Autumn Period in 54 1 BC, Qin Jinggong's mother's younger brother Hou Zizhen was afraid of being killed by Qin Jinggong because he had stored too much property. She set up a pontoon bridge on the Yellow River near Linjin, Shanxi today, and fled from Shaanxi today to the State of Jin. This is the first Yellow River Bridge. The first pontoon bridge on the Yangtze River was built by Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty in the 11th year of Jianwu (AD 35) when he fought against Gongsun Shu, a separatist force in Sichuan. Gongsun Shu built a pontoon bridge between Jingmen, Yidu County, Hubei Province, and Huya, Yichang County, to cut off the waterway traffic of Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Later, it was set on fire by the navy division of Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty. Tianjin Bridge, built on the Luoshui River in Luoyang, Henan Province in 605, was the first pontoon bridge built by connecting ships with chains. Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, wrote a poem, including four lines: "There are unexpected clouds in the sky, and there are unexpected clouds in the waves. Water-rocking snipe [Yi Yi, a kind of bird] and rope-turning brocade camp [Ying Ying Camp] "are used to describe the snipe figure on the bow and the blossoming brocade flowers on the rope when he crossed the pontoon bridge in an imperial car.
Third, the cable tray
Cable bridges are mainly erected with ropes and chains made of rattan and bamboo. Also known as suspension bridge, suspension bridge, ancient books called bridge, bridge, cable bridge. All kinds of cable bridges can often be seen in the Nujiang River, Lancang River, Jinsha River, Yalong River, Dadu River, Wujiang River and Beipanjiang River in Yunguichuan, as well as in the mountainous areas of Qinling Mountain and Taiwan Province Province. There are deep valleys and waterfalls in the Yarlung Zangbo River in the northern Himalayas of Tibet. For thousands of years, cross-strait exchanges have relied on various cable bridges. During 65438-0977, the comprehensive scientific investigation team of China Qinghai-Tibet Plateau also went to the other side for scientific investigation through the rattan tube bridge across the Yarlung Zangbo River in Medog County. Tibetans also call Tiesuo Bridge Zasamba. The vast majority of ancient cable bridges were single-hole, and only a few, such as Huiren Bridge (also known as Lujiang Bridge) on the Nujiang River in Yunnan, were double-hole. Panjiang Bridge in Guizhou, Huding Bridge in Sichuan and Jihongqiao in Yunnan are all famous in the history of international bridges.
Fourth, arch bridge
The arch bridge in China was built in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, with a history of 1800 years. It is gradually developed from cantilever wood-stone beam bridge and supporting bridge. In the process of its formation and development, it was influenced by tombs, water pipes, city gates and other buildings. Because the main load-bearing members of arch bridges are curved, they are often called curved bridges in ancient times. In ancient literature, people also used "arch", "bucket" and "urn" to represent arches. The history of arch bridge construction in China is hundreds of years later than that in ancient Rome, which is famous for its arch bridge construction, but the arch bridge in China is unique. The beauty of form is rare in the world. There are steep arches with humps, flat arches like bright moons, flat perforated arch bridges with jade belts fluttering, and long arch bridges with natural longitudinal slopes. There are open arches (for example, adding a small arch to a large arch, now called an open-web arch) and closed arches (now called a solid-web arch). Arches are semi-circular, polygonal, arc-shaped, oval, parabolic, egg-shaped, horseshoe-shaped, pointed arch, and so on. There are single holes and multiple holes in the number of holes, with odd numbers being the most and even numbers the least. Three-hole, five-hole, seven-hole and nine-hole stone arch bridges in Jiangsu and Zhejiang water towns generally have the largest middle hole, and the diameters of both sides decrease in proportion. The pier is narrow, thin and light, and the pattern is unified, which is admirable. Because the bridge holes are properly matched and the whole bridge is symmetrical and harmonious, the natural slope is not only convenient for pedestrians to get on and off, but also beneficial to the shipping of various ships. The Chen Gong Bridge in the north of Hangzhou is an example of the Three Holes, which was built in the fourth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (163 1). Some bridges have dozens of holes, even more than 100 holes. For example, Xuzhou Guo Jing Bridge discovered in 1979 has 104 holes. Probably a bridge in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Multi-span arch bridge has continuous arch and fixed-end arch. Fixed-end arches adopt thick piers, which are found in North China, Southwest China, Central China and East China, while continuous arches are only found in Jiangnan water towns. According to the materials of archway construction, there are stone archway, wooden archway, brick archway, bamboo archway and masonry archway.
Zhao Zhouqiao in Zhao County, Hebei Province, also known as Dashiqiao, is the world's first open-shouldered single-hole arch stone arch bridge, with a clear span of 37.02 meters and an arch height of 7.23 meters. Compared with arch span, the lift is not as high as 1∶5, so it belongs to flat arch. It was built by famous craftsmen such as Li Chun and thomas lee at the end of the Sui Dynasty (605) and the beginning of the great cause. Today, it has been more than 1370 years, and it is a high-quality product that combines science and perfect artistry. Professor Needham of the United Kingdom believes that "Li Chun has obviously established a school and style that has lasted for centuries". It is pointed out that "the arch is one of the inventions spread from China to Europe" and that "the construction of Li Chun's open-shouldered arch bridge is the ancestor of many reinforced concrete bridges". For thousands of years, Zhao Zhouqiao has been the holder of the largest stone arch bridge. Until the French built an arch bridge with a clear span of 45.5 meters and a width of 3.9 meters at 1339, it lasted for more than 730 years, and the width of the bridge was less than half that of Zhao Zhouqiao. The Huanghugang Bridge in Hunan, built at 1959, spans 60 meters, surpassing Zhao Zhouqiao. Zhao Zhouqiao, another technical index of the stone arch bridge, also kept the world record for nearly a thousand years until the completion of the Trinity Bridge in Florence in 1567. Zhao Zhouqiao is calculated and verified by modern mechanics principle (elastic arch theory which was formed only in the 9th century/kloc-0). It is found that after digging four small arches on the arch shoulder and filling the arch ring with thin stones with a thickness of 30cm, the arch axis (generally the center line of the arch ring) is very close to the dead load pressure line, so that the arch ring is subjected to pressure or minimal tension on each section, giving full play to the characteristics that the arch ring stone is not afraid of pressure, but only afraid of tension. The coincidence of two lines is the basis of modern arch bridge design. Surprisingly, Zhao Zhouqiao thousands of years ago could solve this problem in practice. During the period of 1979, the relevant units conducted on-site drilling survey on the abutment and foundation of Zhao Zhouqiao, and found that the abutment was not coarse sand with good bearing capacity, but light loam with bearing capacity of only 34T/M2. No long back seat or abutment is found behind the abutment, and the stone abutment with a thickness of only 1.549m is directly placed on the natural foundation. The old soil at the bridge site (3.5 meters below the river bed) is a general Quaternary alluvium with stable geology and uniform soil quality, and the original soil layer was not moved when the bridge was repaired. Such a large stone arch bridge, with only a small abutment, can last for thousands of years on a foundation that can barely bear the weight of the bridge, which is rare in the history of bridge construction at home and abroad. Even today, it is very difficult to build such a bridge. After decades of research and investigation, many questions have not been answered satisfactorily, such as the construction method of the bridge, the appearance and function of the small arch, why the bridge did not fall for thousands of years, the personal affairs of Li Chun and Li Tong, and why Zhao Zhouqiao appeared on the Weihe River in Zhao County of Sui Dynasty. Even scholars such as Japan often put forward discussions.
Baodai bridge, located in Liuli, southeast of Suzhou, was built in the 11th to 14th years of Tang Yuanhe (8 16-8 19). It was named after the Tang Dynasty historian Wang Zhongshu, who donated a treasure belt to finance the construction of the bridge. It is a famous porous ancient stone arch bridge at home and abroad. The total length of the whole bridge is nearly 317m, with 53 holes, with a length of 249.8m, a northern end of 23.2m and a southern end of 43.8m.. The bridge width is 4. 1 m. The bridge embankment is trumpet-shaped, and the width of bridge end is 6.1m. The stone lions and stone pagodas at both ends of the bridge embankment are objects of the Southern Song Dynasty, and the bridge shape in the 11th year of the Ming Dynasty (1446) is today's style. Baodai bridge is a fiber bridge in the southern section of the Grand Canal (named Jiangnan River) dug in the Sui Dynasty. When the monks of the Yuan Dynasty lived well across the bridge, they wrote the following poem: "Borrow other stones and turn them into beams. Go straight from the embankment and cross the center of the water. Egrets fall in autumn and black dragons float in the sunset. The sound of the waves began that night and merged into a list. " Since it is a fiber bridge, it is not suitable to use the stone arch bridge with hump uplift that is common in the south of the Yangtze River, so it is necessary to build a porous, narrow and flat bridge with small span. There are three big holes in the main channel for larger ships to pass through; Other holes were made very narrow, about 60 cm thick, in order to drain the water from Lake Dan Tai. The pier of the whole bridge is a flexible bridge, and one hole is loaded, which affects several adjacent holes; One hole collapses and the whole bridge is connected. According to the Biography of Gengdeji written by the old man who took care of the children, on August/0/863/0/9, in order to open a steamboat, two holes were dug in the baodai bridge, and then 25 holes collapsed continuously, killing five soldiers and brave people. In a letter sent back to Britain, Gordon said that this steamboat was the "flying back" when the British colonialists took command of foreign guns to attack the Taiping Army. The letter also said: "The bridge made a shocking noise when it collapsed, and my ship was almost sunk by debris. ..... I'm afraid I should be responsible for the collapse of this bridge, because I once removed one of its arches and let the steam boat sail into Taihu Lake. The arches of this bridge overlap each other. If one arch is removed, the rest will naturally collapse. " In order to cover up his crimes, Gordon once told his family and associates not to publish the relevant letters. Then why are all the holes after the 27 th hole safe and sound? Originally, between the 27th and 28th holes, two piers stood side by side, 2.23m wide, more than three times wider than other piers, and 80cm longer than other piers, with a "Yao Zhen" stone tower on it, which became a reliable barrier. This kind of pier is called rigid pier today because it can bear one-way arch thrust, also known as one-way thrust pier. At present, when building a multi-span arch bridge, a rigid pier must be built every 3 to 5 holes. This kind of pier is not only found in baodai bridge, but also in Xingchun Bridge (Nine-Ring Cave Bridge) in Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province, which shows that bridge builders in China formed this concept 500 years ago and it is a great achievement in the history of bridge technology. The ratio of span (maximum span 6.95m) to pier width of baodai bridge Bridge is 1 1.6: 1, which makes the drainage area under the bridge reach 85%, ranking first among ancient arch bridges in the world. Thick piers were used in ancient stone arch bridges in ancient Rome and Europe. For example, the old London Bridge in England, which was built at the beginning of the13rd century, has a large water blocking area and looks heavy, with the ratio of span to pier width of 1.3: 1(34 feet: 26 feet). Until18th century, the French bridge master Veron (1708 ~ 1774) proved theoretically that the ratio of span to pier thickness can be as large as12:1~/kloc-0:/kloc-0. Let us clearly see the amazing wisdom of ancient craftsmen in China.
At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Zeduan, a great painter, recorded the Hongqiao in the capital city (now Kaifeng) in his long scroll The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival. Hongqiao is a wooden arch bridge with novel structure. It uses short and small wooden strips, criss-crossing and overlapping, supporting each other, forming an arched skeleton, adding deck and railings to form a bridge. The bridge is located near Dongshuimen in the urban area of Kyoto in the Northern Song Dynasty, and it spans a river about16.4m wide. The span of the bridge is estimated to be19m and the width is 8-9m. At that time, the "bridge city" was formed with the bridge as the center. The crowd on the bridge was bustling, and horses and chariots came and went all night, which was very noisy. There are also teams of camels crossing the city and crossing the bridge. At that time, there was a large transport vehicle called "Taiping Car", which carried dozens of stones (estimated to be 2-3 tons) and needed more than 20 mules and donkeys or 5-7 cows to haul it. It can be seen that the bearing capacity of the bridge is great. Bianhe River, Guangji River and Huimin River are the rivers that communicate the water transportation of the Bianliang River. Among them, Bianhe River transports 6 million stones of imperial grain every year, which is ten times that of the other two rivers. Because the water traffic on the Bianhe River is the lifeblood of Beijing, shipping can't be interrupted for a day, and the wooden pier wooden beam bridge built by Bianhe River often has accidents that ships collide with piers, resulting in bridge collapse, so it is urgent to build a "footless bridge" without piers. At that time, Qingzhou Hongqiao was built in Qingzhou, Shandong Province (now Gaidu) according to a scheme donated by an able person who had been a pawn in prison. There was no intermediate bridge column and it has been used for more than 30 years. The Bianliang Hongqiao was built in the style of Qingzhou Hongqiao, and was later destroyed by the Song and Jin Wars. At that time, this kind of bridge was widely built and popular in Bianhe River and its nearby rivers in Shandong, Henan and Anhui. For a long time, people think that Hongqiao has been lost for more than 800 years. According to our 1980 investigation in the mountainous areas of southern Zhejiang and northeastern Fujian, Taishun Xianju Bridge, pingnan county Tangkou Qiancheng Bridge in Fujian and Yunhe Meichong Bridge are all variants of this bridge type. It is likely that with the southward movement of the political center of the Song Dynasty, the skill of building Hongqiao spread from the north to the south.
Kyle wrote it. Lugou Bridge, known as "the best in the world", was built in Chang three years (1 192). It is a large stone arch bridge with a span of 1 1, with a total length of 266.5 meters. Each pier is thick enough to withstand unilateral thrust to resist the impact of a large amount of ice released from the upper reaches of Yongding River at the turn of spring and summer. After nearly 800 years of car, wind, ice, rain and war, it still stands proudly. 1975, in order to meet the needs of national construction, on the basis of scientific experiments, oversized large flat cars loaded with more than 400 tons of chemical equipment also passed through here safely. It not only has many outstanding achievements in engineering, but also has exquisite and vivid Chinese watches, bridge railings and stone lion carvings on the bridge, which are often praised by domestic and foreign tourists. The writers of Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Cong and Lu Gen, used the words "Lying in the rainbow in thousands of feet" and "Flying clouds in the north of the Black Dragon" to describe the majestic posture of the stone bridge. There are many stone lions on the bridge. As early as four or five hundred years ago, there was a folklore of "Lugouqiao Shishi-countless". 1962 made an inventory, and there were 485 lions of different sizes. There are 28 1 big lions on the railing, and there are 198 little lions on these big lions. At the eastern end of the bridge, there are two big lions holding the railing as drum stones, and at both ends of the bridge, there are four stone lions. But in 1979, another stone lion was dug up in the river. These stone lions are charming in all aspects, especially in the east of the railing on the south side of the bridge, with one ear standing high, as if listening to the gurgling water under the bridge and the conversation of passers-by.
Known as "Flower Bridge misty rain", the Flower Bridge outside the East Gate of Guilin, Guangxi, spans Jiang Xiaodong, a tributary of Lijiang River. In the seventh year of Jingtai in Ming Dynasty (1456), a wooden bridge was built, and 1540 was converted into a stone arch bridge. It consists of a four-hole water bridge and a six-hole dry bridge, with a total length of 134.66 meters. There is a glazed tile roof and a bridge corridor on the water bridge, and the bottom of the trunk bridge is paved with seabed stones, which is 25 meters wide. In autumn and winter, when the water is low, the water only flows out from the water bridge, and in spring and summer, the flood discharge from the flood-drought bridge is the same. The dry bridge sets off the water bridge, plays the role of approaching the bridge and relieves the slope of the bridge. The combination of drought and water bridge has a novel concept. The bridge foundation is like the "sleeping wooden foundation" of Liang Shi Bridge in Quanzhou, Fujian. The raft foundation is 2.4 meters wide and more than half a meter thick, and there is a 38 cm thick gravel cushion under the raft. The whole bridge is symmetrical in proportion, beautiful in shape and slender in feet. The water bridge has four holes, and the reflection is round, exquisite, rich and fascinating. On the footbridge, the Seven-Star Peak is close at hand, which is one of the scenic spots in Guilin. Flower Bridge in the scenic Guilin, plays the role of finishing touch, which is worth learning from today's bridge workers.
Shuanglong Bridge in the west of Jianshui County, Yunnan Province, located at the intersection of Lujiang River and Tacun River, is a 17 arch stone arch bridge with a total length of 148.73 meters, which was built in the Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty and the early years of Daoguang respectively. The artistic style of the whole bridge is rare in China. It has three flying pavilions in the middle and both ends of the bridge, and a pair of stone statues at the bridge head, which is unique to Yunnan. The flying pavilion has three floors, five rooms wide and five rooms deep. The upper two floors are covered with a rest hill roof with staggered cornices. The bottom floor is the passage of the bridge, and the middle is the Buddha box. In the northwest corner, there are stairs to the pavilion, from which you can climb and overlook. The three flying pavilions reflect each other and are extremely spectacular. Unfortunately, the bridge pavilion at the northern end has been destroyed and the stone statue no longer exists.
Bianqiao is an ancient stone arch bridge recently discovered in Shandong Province, which may be a rare building in the late Tang Dynasty in China. It is located in Bianqiao Town, five miles southeast of Surabaya County, across Surabaya. It is a three-hole arch stone bridge, one of the ten scenic spots in Yanzhou. There is a lotus stone at the arch foot, and there is a monster head sticking out of the bridge on the vault, which looks strange. The whole bridge 13 balustrade and 14 sentry box are carved with birds and beasts, landscape bridges, figures and flowers, and are engraved with various lettering such as "Jin Dading 21". The stone of the arch ring in the middle hole is also engraved with the words "Rebuilding the stone bridge in Bianqiao Town began on August 1st in the 21st year of Jin Dading (1 18 1), and remember April 8th in the 22nd year", indicating that it has been 800 years since the reconstruction. According to records, every Mid-Autumn Festival night, double shadows will be printed on the bridge next month, so it is also called the Double Moon Bridge. Three Gorges Bridge in Lushan, Jiangxi Among the ancient gardens and scenic spots in China, there are some ancient stone arch bridges, which add scenery and landscape to the garden. For example, Daiyu Bridge and Seventeen-hole Bridge in the Summer Palace in Beijing, Wu Ting Bridge in Slender West Lake in Yangzhou, Stone Arch Bridge in Lushan, Liu Liu Bridge and Broken Bridge in Su Causeway, Hangzhou, Nanminghe Bridge in Guizhou and so on.
Yudai Bridge was built in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty (1736 ~ 1795). The whole bridge is carved with white jade, the main arch ring is an egg-shaped pointed arch, and the two-way anti-bending lines on the bridge deck, such as hump protrusion, are particularly towering, commonly known as humpback bridge. Located among the green trees, the water under the bridge is rippling in blue waves, and the reflection is in a ring, which is soft, vigorous and changeable. At the beginning of this century, the United States built a prison gate bridge on the East River in new york. The two ends of the arc chord on the main arch adopt reverse curves, which was called the crown of arch bridge in the world at that time. It is said that its bridge type was selected from the Jade Belt Bridge.
Wu Ting Bridge, also known as lianhua bridge, is located on the Lotus Ridge surrounded by lotus flowers. From a distance, the whole bridge looks like a blooming lotus flower. The bridge spans Slender West Lake, which is the only way to Guanyin Mountain and Heping Mountain Hall, and is one of the famous scenery of Slender West Lake. The bridge was built in the 22nd year of Qingganlong (1757). This year, Emperor Qianlong visited Jiangnan for the second time. In order to please the emperor, Lianghuai Yanguan Gaofeng asked craftsmen to design and build this special style bridge with fifteen arches, four wings and five pavilions. It is said that on the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, when the moon is full, the fifteen arches are held for one month each, which makes people feel different.
Lushan stone arch bridge spans a mountain stream, and the stream passes through the bridge and falls into a deep pool of dozens of feet. Su Dongpo, a scholar in the Song Dynasty, once compared it to Qutang Gorge, hence the name Qixian Temple Three Gorges Bridge. The bridge was built in the seventh year of Song Xiangfu (10 14), and it has been nearly a thousand years. Arch rings are placed side by side, such as Zhao Zhouqiao style. Arch stone adopts concave-convex joint, and there are four joint forms, which are rare in ancient arch bridges.
The skill of building stone arch bridges spread to Japan at the latest in the Ming Dynasty, and even directly built for other countries. For example, 1634 designed the Eyeglasses Bridge by China monk Ruding, and 1645 built the Tongming Bridge by China Lin Shoucha.
Eyeglasses Bridge is located on the Nakajima River in Nagasaki Prefecture, and there are 20 ancient bridges nearby, which are less than 100 meters apart, forming the "Nagasaki Stone Bridge Group". Half of them were funded by China people, and the Eyeglasses Bridge was designed and built by China people. Japanese history books praise Eyeglasses Bridge as "one of the oldest and most famous stone arch bridges in Japan". In 1950s, in a flood, all the modern reinforced concrete bridges near Yanjing Bridge were destroyed, but only Yanjing Bridge was safe and sound, which surprised local bridge officials and considered it "incredible". Since then, the Eyeglasses Bridge has been designated as a national key cultural relic by Japan and has become a symbol of the harmonious diplomatic relations between the two peoples and the friendship between the two peoples.