Xijin Bridge (), is an ancient Chinese
covered bridge or ''lángqiáo'' (
廊桥) located in
Yongkang,
Jinhua
, alternately romanized as Kinhwa, is a prefecture-level city in central Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou to the east, ...
,
Zhejiang Province
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...
, China. It is the largest covered bridge in Zhejiang Province, and one of the largest in China.
History
The bridge was constructed during the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
as a
wooden bridge
A timber bridge or wooden bridge is a bridge that uses timber or wood as its principal structural material. One of the first forms of bridge, those of timber have been used since ancient times.
History
The most ancient form of timber bridge is ...
.
In the 57th year of the
Kangxi Era
The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...
(1718), the bridge was rebuilt, and in the early period of the
Yongzheng Era
, regnal name =
, posthumous name = Emperor Jingtian Changyun Jianzhong Biaozhen Wenwu Yingming Kuanren Xinyi Ruisheng Daxiao Zhicheng Xian()Manchu: Temgetulehe hūwangdi ()
, temple name = Shizong()Manchu: Šidzung ()
, house = Aisin Gioro
...
, the bridge's
piers were replaced with
stones to improve its load capacity.
At the beginning of the
Qianlong Era, the construction of the bridge was finished. During the
Jiaqing Era, the bridge was repaired once and in the 12th year (1807), a stone
stele
A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...
(
cenotaph) was erected to praise bridge builders and to summarize the history of the bridge. The inscription on the stele is known as ''Xijin Qiao Zhi'' ().
Structural parameters
The bridge is a mixed stone and wooden bridge; the piers are made of stone and its upper structures are mostly wooden. When it was a completely wooden bridge, it had a length of 206.3 meters distributed over 15 piers and 16
spans.
After the piers were replaced with stone, it was changed to 12 piers and 13 spans and shortened to 166 meters.
Each pier has a length of 5.6 meters, a width of 3.3 meters, and height of 4.6 meters. Between every two piers, there are 6 or 7
girder
A girder () is a support beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a stabilizing ' ...
s spanning the tops of piers. Each girder has an average length of 13 meters.
See also
*
Covered bridge
*
Chengyang Bridge
The Yongji Bridge of Chengyang (), also called the Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge (), is a bridge in Sanjiang County, of Guangxi, China.
Chengyang Bridge is a special covered bridge or ''lángqiáo'', and one of several ''Fengyu'' bridges in th ...
, another large ''lángqiáo'' (
廊桥) in
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
, China
*
List of bridges in China
This list of bridges in China includes notable bridges. China has a long history in bridge construction. The oldest bridge still in existence in China is the Anji Bridge, constructed during the years between 595 and 605.
During the infrastructu ...
References
*《永康县志》 (''Archive of Yongkang County''), official/governmental archive of Yongkang (Qing Dynasty version). Now Yongkang is no longer a ''county'', but a ''city''.
*《西津橋志》 (''Inscript of Xijin Bridge''), a
Jiaqing-Era article about the bridge.
*《中国桥梁建筑史》 (''History of Chinese Bridges''), a book on the history of Chinese bridges, written by
Mao Yisheng
Dr. Mao Yisheng aka. Thomson Eason Mao (; January 9, 1896 – November 12, 1989) was a Chinese structural engineer and social activist. He was one of the most famous Chinese structural engineers, a pioneer in bridge construction, and a socia ...
.
{{Reflist
Tourist attractions in Zhejiang
Chinese architectural history
Bridges in Jinhua
Covered bridges in China