Chapter 7 Chapter 3 Changes of Ancient Bridges

Liang bridge is the most common and earliest bridge in ancient my country, and it was called Ping bridge in ancient times.Its structure is simple, its shape is straight, and it is relatively easy to build.A beam bridge is formed by erecting wooden or stone beams on both sides of the river in the valley.As early as in the primitive society, there were single-plank bridges and wooden beam bridges made up of several log rows in our country.During the Warring States Period, single-span and multi-span wooden and stone beam bridges were generally built in the Yellow River Basin and other areas. In 1972, during the archaeological excavation of Linzi, the capital city of Qi State during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, the remains of the beam bridge and the remains of the bridge abutment were discovered for the first time. The spans of the two bridges are both about eight meters.Li Daoyuan's "Shui Jing Zhu" in the Northern Wei Dynasty recorded that there was a wooden post and wooden beam bridge in Fenshui, Shanxi Province, which was built in the Spring and Autumn Period during the time of Jin Pinggong.There are 30 pillars under the bridge, each pillar is five feet in diameter.This is the earliest girder bridge recorded in ancient books.

The Three Weishui Bridge, located near the ancient city of Xianyang, was very famous in ancient times.The three bridges include Zhongwei, Dongwei and Xiwei bridges, all of which are multi-span wooden beam and wooden column bridges.Among them, the Zhongwei Bridge was first built during the Warring States Period by King Qin Zhao, and later rebuilt and reinforced by Qin Shihuang.The bridge has a total length of about 525 meters and a width of about 13.8 meters, which is close to the width of the driveway of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge. It consists of 750 wooden pillars to form 67 piers and 68 bridge holes. The average span of each hole is 7.72 meters. The diameter is up to nine meters; the top beams are added to the wooden pillars to form the bent frame piers, and then the large wooden beams are placed on the bent frames, and then the wooden bridge deck is laid, and carved railings are set on both sides of the bridge.The bridge hole in the middle is high and large, and the bridge holes on both sides are low and small, showing a figure-eight shape, which can not only allow tall ships to pass smoothly, but also quickly drain rainwater on the bridge deck to prevent decay.At both ends of the bridge, there are also Chinese watches, stone pieces for water demons, and stone lampposts, etc., for signs and lighting.In the Han Dynasty, the Zhongwei Bridge was rebuilt, and the Dongwei Bridge and Xiwei Bridge were added.Beam bridges in the Han Dynasty were relatively popular.On the stone reliefs unearthed from the Han tombs in Yinan, Shandong Province, there are even engraved patterns of stone beam bridges.

During the Tang Dynasty, many famous stone beam bridges appeared in the world.According to "Tang Liudian", there are four famous stone beam bridges in the world: Tianjin Bridge, Yongji Bridge and Zhongqiao in Luoyang, Henan Province, and Baqiao in Xi'an.Baqiao is located on the Bashui River 20 miles northeast of Xi'an. It is a wooden beam bridge with stone pillars and piers.Since the construction of the bridge in the Han Dynasty, it has been repeatedly destroyed and repaired for two thousand years. It took nine months to build today's multi-span bridge until the 13th year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (AD 1833).The bridge is nearly 400 meters long, with 67 holes, each hole has a net span of about six meters, and the bridge width is about seven meters.The pier is composed of six stone pillars.A stone beam is covered on the top of the six stone pillars, and they are integrated into one, forming the earliest light-shaped pier in the history of bridges, which is what is called a stone-bracketed pier today.This ancient bridge, which has been a traffic throat for thousands of years, has been transformed into a modern highway bridge today.

In the Song Dynasty, people's ability to overcome nature improved, and the first large stone beam bridge Wan'an Bridge near the bay in my country was built in Quanzhou, Fujian, namely Luoyang Bridge.The bridge is 834 meters long and seven meters wide. There is an island in the middle of the bridge. There are seven holes in the south of the island and 41 holes in the north of the island. The span of each hole is about 11 meters.The place where the bridge is built is right at the mouth of the sea, the current is turbulent, and there are many earthquakes and typhoons in the area, so the construction of the bridge is quite difficult.This will be covered in the next section of this book.After the completion of the Luoyang Bridge, it was a sensation, and it has the reputation of "the first bridge in the world", so it set off a "bridge-building craze" in the local area.During this period, the newly built stone beam and stone pier bridges in Fujian reached a new level in terms of length, span, weight, construction speed, construction technology, bridge type and bridge foundation, and occupied an important position in the history of Chinese and foreign bridge construction.The outstanding ones can be represented by Anping Bridge in Jinjiang City, Fujian Province and Hudu Bridge in Zhangzhou City.Anping Bridge has a total length of 811 feet, more than five miles, and 362 holes. It is a rare ancient long bridge in the world. It is known as "there is no bridge in the world as long as this bridge".The largest stone beam of Hudu Bridge is 23.7 meters long, 1.7 meters wide, 1.9 meters high, and weighs 207 tons. It can be called the heaviest stone beam in the world.

With the development of social productive forces, the form of girder bridges is constantly changing.For example, in the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River in my country, people often build this kind of bridge into a figure-of-eight or stepped type with a tall middle hole and a small side hole. There are also several steps with very unique appearance on the bridge heads on both sides to guide people to the bridge.Along the canal from Shaoxing to Hangzhou, there is also a fiber bridge parallel to the river.Some ancient stone girder bridges have gates under the bridge or channels on the bridge, so that one bridge can be used for multiple purposes.According to historical records, there was an outrigger wooden beam bridge built in the ancient place called Duanguo in the border area between Gansu and Xinjiang.This kind of bridge is stacked vertically and horizontally with logs or square logs, and is picked out from the bank or the upper layer of the pier to the center of the valley, just like the layers of brackets in ancient buildings.The locals call this kind of bridge "flying bridge", and it is easy to see in areas with more timber in the south.Some bridges also have bridge houses or bridge corridors. Inside the corridors are colored paintings, Buddha seats and fairy statues. The bridge scenery looks like flowers, so it is called Huaqiao.During the New Year and festivals, Huaqiao has become a place for people to entertain, go to markets and go to temple fairs.For example, Chengyang Bridge in Sanjiang, Guangxi is a famous flower bridge that organically combines function and decoration.In addition, there are wooden braced bridges and girder bridges with outrigger wooden beams and braces combined.