The ancient bridge of Changting City
Text/Anping
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Changting is a famous historical and cultural city in China, a county in the Han Dynasty and a Tingzhou in the Tang Dynasty, and has a history of more than 1,300 years. The Ting River flows from north to south from the east side of the city wall, and is divided into two banks, and then merges, forming a long island in the middle, so since ancient times, there have been many bridges connecting the two sides, becoming a unique scenery of the ancient city of Tingzhou.
Water East Bridge
The most prestigious of the Changting Ancient Bridge is the Shuidong Bridge. Shuidong Bridge, formerly known as Lichun Bridge and Jichuan Bridge, connects Zhaozheng Road and Shuidong Street at both ends of the bridge, the two most prosperous streets in Changting, which have a history of more than 1,000 years. The earliest is a wooden house bridge, the bridge has a bridge building and shops, the Northern Song Dynasty Tingzhou Zhizhou Chen Xuan has a poem cloud "100,000 people on both sides of the creek, green poplar smoke lock Jichuan Bridge". During the First Year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1195-1200 AD), it was rebuilt as a wooden girder bridge with four stone piers, which collapsed due to disaster damage for more than 800 years, and repaired or rebuilt more than a dozen times. In 1840 A.D. of the Qing Dynasty, a pier double-hole stone arch bridge was rebuilt, completed in 1846, with a total length of 40.4 meters, a semicircular arch spanning 17 meters per hole, a bridge deck width of 5 meters, a bridge deck height of 6.8 meters, an arch circle thickness of 0.4 meters, and a stone slab with a thickness of 0.5 meters on the top of the vault, which is the precursor of the ancient thin arch bridge, the quality is very good, and it can withstand the weight of a considerable modern road bridge, which is listed in the "Chinese Stone Bridge" and "Bridge History" books. The picture below is the Shuidong Bridge (provided by Beckley in the United States) at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and it can be seen that there are some shops and pedestrians on the bridge. The rent of the shops on the bridge was used to finance the repair of the bridge, and it was not until 1924 that the shops on the bridge were demolished when the road was repaired.
The Tingjiang River is the only inter-provincial river waterway in Fujian, and water transport is the main mode of transportation from the Song Dynasty to the Republic of China Tingzhou. Tingjiang passenger transport to the south through The Chaoshan in Guangdong, and then to the whole country and overseas, the shipping is mainly the export of soil paper, rice beans, tobacco leaves and imported salt, kerosene, cloth, department stores. The Ting River is smoother to go down the river, but some of the channels are very narrow and dangerous, and when going upstream, you need manpower to pull fibers in the cotton beach of Yongding. My mother-in-law took the Tingjiang waterway when she returned to Ting from Chaoshan in 1927, and when she passed the cotton beach, most of the passengers went ashore on foot, and suddenly the rope broke, and she and the owner of the boat stayed on the boat, and were washed down more than ten miles of waterways before landing, which was very thrilling.
The wharf under the Shuidong Bridge is the Tingzhou Freight Distribution Center, and a large number of ships are moored every day to load and unload goods, and the picture below is the situation of bamboo canopy transport ships gathered at the dock of Shuidong Bridge in the late Qing Dynasty.
Shuidong Bridge has endured the hardships of war. During the Second Civil Revolutionary War, the bridge deck was damaged in 1934, and the following year it was repaired and renamed Zhongshan Bridge (renamed Shuidong Bridge after the founding of New China). During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Japanese planes bombed Changting 15 times, causing heavy casualties and property losses, and 14 civilian boats in the river under the Shuidong Bridge were blown up.
The picture below is the Shuidong Bridge in 1936, which shows that there are several signs of businesses at the head of the bridge, including one "Shangjunfeng Sauce Garden Jingguo". When my father was admitted to Changting Provincial Middle School from the countryside in the autumn of 1942 to attend junior high school, the school needed a guarantee, so he went to ask Zhong Yuexing, the owner of the Jingguo shop in Shuitou Qiaotou, for help. I guess it might be the owner of the Jingguo shop in the photo.
The picture below is a photo of a large number of bamboo canopy transport ships moored in the Ting River from the Shuidong Bridge to the south at that time.
The Ting River under the Shuidong Bridge often holds dragon boat races during the Dragon Boat Festival, and a large number of people watch on the Shuidong Bridge and on both sides of the Ting River. The picture below is the dragon boat race under the Shuidong Bridge during the Dragon Boat Festival in 1963 (photo by Luo Chaoxiang).
More than 20 years after the founding of New China, Shuidong Bridge was not only the main road for the people of Changting to enter and leave the city, but also the trunk bridge of the Xiamen-Ruijin Highway. Every day, pedestrians are bustling and crowded when cars pass by. The first time I walked across the Shuidong Bridge was during the Spring Festival in 1972, and my initial impression was that it was not wide. The picture below is the scene of people and cars leaking through the Shuidong Bridge around 1970.
In order to solve the problem of too narrow bridge deck, poor traffic and steep slope on both sides of the Shuidong Bridge, in 1972, the province, city and county allocated 180,000 yuan to demolish the stone bridge of the Qing Dynasty, and in the spring of 1974 a new stone pier stone arch cement bridge was built, the new bridge was built with two holes, 44 meters long, each hole net span was 20 meters, the bridge height was 8.3 meters, the bridge deck was widened to 10 meters, the bridge deck was paved with concrete, the car was unimpeded, and the bridge lights were installed, adding a beautiful landscape to Changting. The picture below is a photo of the mass parade shortly after the completion of the new bridge, and the department store building on the east side of the bridge still has a large slogan "Long live Chairman Mao".
Since the 1960s, barrages have been built in many places on the Ting River, water transport has been blocked, and with the development of road construction, water transport has been replaced by automobile transport, the bamboo canopy transport ship under the former Shuidong Bridge has basically disappeared, and only the fertilizer transport boats of farmers entering the city in the northern suburbs of the upper reaches of the Ting River can still be seen. The picture below shows the 1978 Shuidong Bridge and the fertilizer ship in the river, and the Wangjiang Building of the drinking company under construction can be seen on the right.
After the reform and opening up, shuidong bridge is still an important symbol of Changting, and the commercial street facades at both ends of the bridge have been beautified and become increasingly prosperous.
In 1992, the Shuidong Bridge was remodeled and widened to both sides, the width of the bridge deck reached 24 meters, the length was 45 meters, and the bridge railing was changed to cement closed railing, which enhanced safety. The picture below shows the riverside market and Wutong Bridge from Shuidong Bridge to the south around 2000.
The west end of Shuidong Bridge was originally the Jichuan Gate of the ancient city wall, which was built in the third year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1066 AD), after war and destruction, it has been maintained and repaired many times by successive dynasties, and the Qing Dynasty was renamed "Lichun Gate". In part of the second photograph of this article (below) you can see the Jichuan Gate Tower in the late Qing Dynasty and early twentieth century, connected to the city wall on a smaller scale, and was later demolished in 1924 when the road was built.
In 2014, the Changting County Government invested 13 million yuan to rebuild the Jichuanmen City Tower at the west end of the Shuidong Bridge, which was basically completed during the Spring Festival in 2016, adding an important landmark landscape to the ancient city of Changting, and in recent years, the façade beautification and night view projects along the river have been carried out. Tourists flock to the bridge to see the scenery, full of praise. I also often accompany friends on this tour to take photos. The picture below is the newly built Jichuan gate city tower in the west of Shuidong Bridge (photo by Wang Liang).
The picture below is the view of the east end of the Shuidong Bridge.
The origin of the name of Shuidong Bridge is said to be due to its connection between the city and the downtown area of Shuidong Street. The following illustration shows the name of the bridge on the bridge railing.
Wutong Bridge
There is also a bridge more than 200 meters downstream of the Shuidong Bridge, which is the Wutong Bridge.
Wutong Bridge has a history of more than 800 years, was built in the fourth year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1198 AD), is a wooden structure bridge, because it is outside the Wutong Gate, so it is named Wutong Bridge. The bridge is divided into two sections, the section from Wutongmen to Banpi Street was once called Xingyun Bridge, and the section from BanbanJie to the dam under the bridge was once called Tangdi Bridge and Nanfu Bridge. Wutong Bridge was rebuilt due to many disasters in 1920, and in 1920 it was changed to a stone pier wooden bridge, with four stone piers, the bridge deck was paved with pebbles, wooden fences were added on both sides, and bridge pavilions were built on both sides. It was destroyed in 1934 and repaired. The picture below shows the Wutong Bridge in 1936.
Around 1980, the wooden bridge deck of wutong bridge had rotted, and at that time, my family lived in Changting Normal School, and it was no longer possible to enter the city from Nanfu Bridge. In 1982, the Changting County Government demolished and rebuilt the two sections of the bridge, the new Wutong Bridge is a hyperbolic arch bridge, spanning two rivers, connecting the original two sections of the bridge into one, 136 meters long, 8 meters wide, with four large stone arches and a small stone arch, the bridge deck is paved with concrete, and the bridge railing is equipped with bridge lights. The picture below shows the Wutong Bridge, which was rebuilt in 1982.
After more than 30 years, the bridge deck and body of the Wutong Bridge were seriously damaged, and the people acted as the main ones. In 2017, the county government decided to demolish and rebuild it, and it was completed in January 2020. The new bridge is reinforced concrete poured, 112 meters long, more than 10 meters wide, can pass cars, a total of four arches, two of which each span 24 meters, the other two arches each span 17 meters. The picture below is the new Wutong Bridge, which will be completed in 2020.
Song Ci is the originator of forensic science in the world, during the Southern Song Dynasty (1232 AD), he came to Changtingdang County, rectified the Tingjiang River during his tenure, opened up a long-distance waterway to the Han River in Guangdong, and changed the land transport of Fu salt to water to transport Chaoshan salt into Tingting, which not only reduced the cost of salt, solved the difficulties of the people, but also promoted the circulation of Fujian and Cantonese goods, and facilitated the migration of Hakka to nanyang. He is still revered and remembered by the people of Changting. In 2020, the Changting County government invested more than 10 million yuan to build the Song Ci Painting Boat and Song Ci Route Project at the wutong bridgehead, and the statue of Song Ci was erected in the boat, becoming another new landscape in Changting (see below).
Jump the stone bridge
There is a jumping stone bridge more than 300 meters upstream of the Shuidong Bridge, which was also a wooden bridge in ancient times, but it is not known when it was created. One of its names comes from the harmonic sound of a stone bridge, and the other is derived from the fact that in the beginning, a row of stones was arranged at intervals on the river, and pedestrians jumped over the river from the stone. In the fourth year of Qing Xianfeng (1854 AD), it was rebuilt, and four stone piers were established, and the wooden beams and wooden planks and wooden railings on the upper frame were built as bridges. He was killed in 1934. In 1946, it was rebuilt as a five-hole stone bridge, 60 meters long and 2 meters wide, with a deck paved with pebbles, and later changed to concrete. The picture below is a reconstructed stone bridge.
Women wash their clothes every day by the river under the jumping stone bridge.
In the summer of 1996, Changting suffered a major flood of "8.8" that had not been encountered in a hundred years, the county seat was flooded, and the jumping stone bridge was also washed away by the flood. At that time, I also rushed from the provincial capital to Changting to relieve the disaster, and I was very shocked to witness the serious disaster. The following figure shows that the jumping stone bridge has been broken into several sections at that time.
In September 1997, the county government and the private sector jointly invested 1.5 million yuan to rebuild the jumping stone bridge, which was completed in September 1998. The new bridge is a two-pier, three-hole stone bridge, which is longer and wider than the original, 76 meters long, about 10 meters high, and 6.3 meters wide. There are stone lions on both sides of the bridge, and there are many stone carvings of small lions and lotus platforms on the marble bridge railing.
The Jumping Stone Bridge, also known as the Tai'an Bridge, has the name of the bridge engraved on the bridge railing (see picture below).
Taiping Bridge
More than 200 meters upstream of the jumping stone bridge, there is the Taiping Bridge connecting Shuidong Street and the East Gate. Taiping Bridge was already a wooden bridge during the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1131-1162 AD), named Younian Bridge, which was later changed to a pontoon bridge called "Taiping Rainbow", so it was renamed Taiping Bridge when it was rebuilt in 1210. Around the fourteenth year of Ming Zhengde (1520 AD), it was rebuilt into a wooden beam and plank bridge with seven stone piers. In the 33rd year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1694 AD), it was rebuilt into a six-hole stone arch bridge, which is more than 30 zhang long and 1.6 zhang wide. In 1934, the bridge deck was damaged by war, and the bridge deck was resurfaced the following year. After the founding of New China, in 1970 it was rebuilt as a two-pier three-hole stone arch bridge, with a length of 84 meters, a net span of 23 meters per hole, a bridge deck width of 7.4 meters, and a sidewalk on both sides of the bridge deck, and renamed Dongfanghong Bridge, and later restored the name of Taiping Bridge. In 1992, it was rebuilt and widened the bridge of the three-hole stone arch bridge upstream, with a length of 90 meters and a width of 24 meters, and was completed in March 1993. The picture below is the name of the Taiping Bridge inscribed by Zheng Guangdi, then vice minister of communications and a native of Changting.
In 2013, Changting built a roof corridor for the sidewalks on both sides of the Taiping Bridge in the "One River and Two Banks" project, making the Taiping Bridge a double-corridor bridge. The picture below is the Taiping Double Covered Bridge.
In 2018, a musical fountain was built in the Ting River north of the Taiping Bridge, which was played regularly every night, attracting many tourists to stop and watch. The picture below is the night view of the Taiping Double Covered Bridge and the Musical Fountain.
Dry Bridge
From the Shuidong Bridge to the east, through the more than 100 meters long Siqian Street, you will arrive at the oldest bridge in Changting County, the Qianqiao Bridge. The Dry Bridge, which spans the Jinsha River, the eastern tributary of the Ting River in the county seat, was built in the Five Dynasties Period (907-960 AD) and was once named Jianzhou Bridge, Huimin Bridge, Huizheng Bridge, and Zhanggong Bridge. The earliest was a wooden bridge, song jiatai four years (1204 AD) changed to four stone piers, on the upper wooden beam plank bridge. After repeated rises and falls. It was rebuilt in 1847 in the Qing Dynasty, laying pebbles on the bridge deck and building shops in the bridge. Destroyed in 1934 by war, the stone pier was destroyed the following year and repaired to a concrete pier wooden girder bridge. After the founding of New China, it was rebuilt once in 1953, because the wooden bridge deck was often damaged, and in 1974 it was rebuilt as a double-hole stone arch bridge, with a length of 34 meters and a width of 8 meters, named Jiefang Bridge. Later, when the yingbei street was renovated, it was expanded and widened, with a length of 40 meters and a width of 24 meters, and was completed in 1992. The picture below is the reconstructed dry bridge.
The bridge is said to be called a dry bridge because the river channel under the bridge often dries up in winter.
Small bridge
About 100 meters upstream from the Jinsha River, which is crossed by the dry bridge, is a small bridge. Xiaoqiaozi was originally a small wooden bridge, the west end is Kang house and Xin Geng villa, and the east end is the yingbei house. The bridge was originally more than 30 meters long and only more than a foot wide. In the autumn of 1932, Mao Zedong went to Changting (then called Tingzhou City) to recuperate and conduct social investigations. One day, the masses told him that the small bridge next to the Singon Villa, where the Municipal Soviet Government was working, was broken and that it was dangerous to cross the bridge. He went to inspect and confirm that, in connection with the opinions of some cadres he had heard in the social survey that they did not care about the lives of the masses, he convened a meeting of the responsible persons of the Tingzhou Municipal CPC Committee and the Municipal Soviet Government at the Xingeng Villa that night, and pointed out: "Only by caring for the lives of the masses, paying attention to work methods, and helping the masses solve their difficulties in a down-to-earth manner can we mobilize the masses and support the front in winning the battle." After the meeting, the style of the cadres in Tingzhou City changed, and the small bridge was quickly repaired.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, my grandfather's family lived in Kangwu, and when my family ran air raid sirens, they often crossed the river from Xiaoqiaozi and then hid in Perak Rock or Nanzhai air defense trenches. Later, my family was nostalgic and often went to that area to see. The picture below is a small bridge taken when I went in 1978, but it is still a simple wooden bridge, about one meter wide, and rice is planted in the river channel next to the bridge.
The small bridge is easy to damage, can not meet the needs of the masses on both sides of the strait, in 1980 was rebuilt into a reinforced concrete bridge, 30 meters long, more than 3 meters wide. In connection with the story of Chairman Mao and the Red Army's concern for the masses, Xiaoqiaozi was named the Red Army Bridge. The picture below is the Red Army Bridge in 2008.
Toyohashi
From Xiaoqiaozi to the upper reaches of the Jinsha River, about 600 meters, it is a Fengqiao bridge connecting the central dam and the Cangyu Cave. In the 37th year of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1698 AD), a stone bridge pier wooden beam wooden plank wooden railing bridge was built, and the bridge deck was paved with pebbles. After being destroyed by floods many times, it was once changed to a stone bridge, but it was still destroyed. In the 55th year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1716 AD), it was rebuilt as a two-hole stone arch bridge, which was later destroyed and rebuilt three times due to flooding. It was destroyed in 1934 due to war and repaired the following year. In 1970, when the ring road was opened, it was rebuilt as a two-pier and three-arch cement bridge, and reinforced cement beams and guardrails were added on both sides of the bridge, and the bridge deck was 5. 1 meter, spread with asphalt. In 1986, it was rebuilt as a three-hole stone arch bridge, with a span of 12 meters per hole and a widened bridge deck, reaching a length of 52 meters and a width of 11. 6 meters, completed and opened to traffic in 1987. In 1990, the East Ring Road was renovated, and the bridge deck was widened to 24 meters, and the construction was completed in July 1991. The following two figures are the current Toyohashi.
On the bridge railing there is a monument to "Toyobashi", and underneath it is engraved the width of toyohashi, which has been rebuilt three times.
Chang'an Bridge
Chang'an Bridge, known as Zhennan Bridge in ancient times, commonly known as Shangbo Bridge, was built in the First Year of the Southern Song Dynasty (1195-1200 AD), which was a cross-Ting River passage that the south of Changting City passed through Luofang to Chaodouyan and Sidu in the early years, and was originally a stone pier wooden bridge. In 1929, the Red Fourth Army first entered Fujian, and after winning the Battle of Changting Changling Village, it was through this bridge that it entered Changting City from Baozhu Gate.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, my grandfather lived in Changting and took his family to Chang'an Bridge with his colleague He Liuquan and his wife from Luofang. Below is a picture of them buying fish from a cormorant fisherman under the Chang'an Bridge in November 1939.
After the reform and opening up, the Chang'an Bridge was rebuilt and changed to a four-span cement bridge with three stone piers. In 2019, Changting implemented the Wolong-Nanping Mountain Scenic Area Nanping Mountain Scenic Area Trail Project, demolished the Chang'an Bridge, and planned to rebuild. The picture below shows the status quo of the old site after the demolition of the original bridge.
The new Chang'an Bridge is planned to be built as a covered bridge with four piers and five spans. The following figure shows the planning map of Chang'an Bridge.
The following figure is a map of the distribution of ancient bridges in Changting County, and the eight ancient bridges introduced in this article can be found on it.
The following picture is a map of Changting in the Qing Dynasty, and you can see ancient bridges such as Jichuan Bridge (Shuidong Bridge), Huizheng Bridge (Dry Bridge), and Taiping Bridge.
The past and present lives of Changting Ancient Bridge contain a thick history and culture, reflecting the civilization progress of society, which is worthy of our in-depth understanding. This article is mainly based on the "Changting County Chronicle", "Changting County Traffic Chronicle" and related online photos and family experiences, due to the limited level, there must be improper points, please correct the reader. Looking forward to a better future for Changting!
Source: Damei Changting The day before yesterday