The 1,400-year-old Zhao zhou Da shi Bridge 167

It was 1420 years ago, in 595, the fifth year after the unification of China by Yang Jian, the Sui Emperor, that the reign of Emperor Kaihuang was in full swing. It was also the year that the imperial examination system, which had influenced China for more than 1,300 years, was born, selecting numerous talents for the feudal dynasty. It was also the year that a craftsman called Li Chun began planning to build a stone bridge over the Xiao River in Zhaozhou, on the plains of northern China. The bridge was named 'Anji Bridge' by Li Chun. Li Chun gave the bridge the name "Anji Bridge", the idea is to ensure the safety of people and vehicles across the river, perhaps even he did not think that, more than 1400 years later, the spacecraft is able to go to Mars, missiles are able to hit the other side of the planet, and he built this huge stone bridge is still standing there, as strong as ever, become a veritable "Bridge of the Gods".
About Zhaozhou Bridge, I believe that all Chinese people who have read books have more or less heard of it. A language text makes this ancient bridge imprinted in every student's mind, and so do I. So once I have the chance, I just want to see this famous ancient stone bridge. For me, there is another reason why I must visit Zhaozhou Bridge, because of the four major ancient bridges in China, Chaozhou Guangji Bridge (Xiangzi Bridge), Quanzhou Luoyang Bridge and Beijing Lugou Bridge have all been there, only Zhaozhou Bridge is missing.
Zhaozhou Bridge is located on the Xiao River in Zhao County, Hebei Province, Zhao County is an ancient county belonging to Shijiazhuang, Shijiazhuang jurisdiction of 8 districts, 11 counties and 3 county-level cities, most of which are ancient counties with many historical sites, only this Shijiazhuang city historical heritage is not deep. The bridge is not only the most famous attraction in Zhao County but also one of Shijiazhuang's top ten city cards. It is also known as one of the "Four Treasures of North China", along with the Iron Lion of Cangzhou, the Kaiyuan Temple Pagoda of Dingzhou and the Bodhisattva statue of Longxing Temple in Zhengding.

The Zhaozhou Bridge, formerly known as the Anji Bridge, is a huge bridge built entirely of stone, so the locals call it a big stone bridge, and although I have seen many pictures of the Zhaozhou Bridge when I got closer, I realised that the bridge was really huge and the workmanship was superb.

The entrance to the Zhaozhou Bridge in Zhao County is a Sui and Tang style pagoda, with an entrance fee of 40 yuan.

On the front is an excerpt from Mao Yisheng's article 'Chinese Stone Arch Bridges', which describes the great stone bridge of Zhaozhou Bridge.

On the back of the wall is a relief carving of the legendary Zhaozhou Bridge, including the mythical tales of Lu Ban building the bridge, Zhang Guolao riding a donkey and the King of Chai crossing the bridge with his cart.

The sculptures of the Eight Immortals and the King of Chai and the cowherd boy are taken from the mythology of the Zhaozhou Bridge, while the cowherd boy is taken from the Hebei folk song 'The Little Cowherd': 'Who repaired the Zhaozhou Bridge? Who left the jade railings? Who rode the donkey on the bridge? What man rolled a ditch with a cart? The Zhaozhou Bridge was repaired by Grandpa Lu Ban, the jade railings were left by a saint, Zhang Guolao rode a donkey on the bridge, and Master Chai rolled a ditch with his cart."

Legend has it that after this Lu Ban had built the Zhaozhou Bridge overnight, Zhang Guolao met with Prince Chai to see what was going on, Zhang Guolao rode a small donkey, Prince Chai pushed a wheelbarrow, and met Lu Ban at the bridge, he asked if the bridge could withstand them, Lu Ban was very dismissive and said, of course, no problem, who knew that Zhang Guolao put the sun and the moon in the small donkey's pouch, Prince Chai also put the five mountains in the wheelbarrow, just on the bridge, the bridge was shaking, Lu Ban jumped down, raised his right hand to hold the bridge, to save the stone bridge.

In 1991, the American Society of Civil Engineers selected the Zhaozhou Bridge as the world's twelfth 'International Historic Civil Engineering Monument', with the Pyramids of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower, the Panama Canal and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the Hall of Honour.

Over the years, the Zhaozhou Bridge has survived countless floods, wind and rain, snow and ice, and eight earthquakes, and is still standing on the Qingshui River.

I thought the Zhaozhou Bridge was a modest stone bridge, but when I saw it in person, I realised that it was not at all.

Zhaozhou Bridge is 50.82 metres long, with a span of 37.02 metres, a coupon height of 7.23 metres and a width of 9.6 metres at both ends. The bridge is designed in accordance with scientific principles, and the construction techniques are ingenious, using the words of Zhang Jiazhen of the Tang Dynasty: "The manufacturing is strange, and people do not know why it is so", so it is known as " Bridge of the Gods".

The stone railings on both sides of the bridge are of course not left behind by the saints, but by ancient craftsmen, with exquisite designs carved into the panels, although compared to the lions of the Lugou Bridge, the railings of the Zhaozhou Bridge are too plain.

Although the bridge has been repaired many times, it still has the legendary donkey's hoof prints left by Zhang Guolao and the rut marks left by Lord Chai, and it is said that there are also handprints left by Lu Ban at the bottom of the bridge.

At one end of the bridge are a number of stone tablets, all of which have been carved in praise of the Zhaozhou Bridge through the ages.

Amongst them, of course, are the inscriptions of the Qianlong emperor, who loved to travel around and write poems.

More than 200 years after the Qianlong emperor, China had another leader who loved inscriptions, and the stele in front of the Zhaozhou Bridge was the perfect place to take a picture of a visit to the area.

An arch above the water and an arch below, the ancient Zhaozhou Bridge is reflected in the calm water, making it a beautiful picture.

In fact, there is not much water in this river anymore, but it is only because of the downstream cut-off that this section of water is maintained, if it were kept as a natural river, it would probably have dried up long ago.

If it were just a stone bridge, the Zhaozhou Bridge would not have stood for a thousand years. A key to its success was the addition of iron ties and waist irons to the stone construction, making the bridge even stronger.

The rounded shape is the iron ties that strengthen the lateral connection between the arches. One of the main features of the Zhaozhou Bridge is the longitudinal (in the direction of the bridge) masonry method used in the stone arch masonry, the whole bridge is made up of 28 separate arch coupons in parallel along its width. The ends of each tie have semi-circular heads exposed outside the stone to hold the 28 arches together and to enhance their lateral connection.

On the outer arch stones and on the small arches at the two ends, there is a layer of arch protection stones. In order to make the adjacent arch stones fit together tightly, there is a "waist iron" between the arch stones, and the adjacent stones between the vouchers are also pierced with a "waist iron" at the back of the arch to chain the arch stones together.

This is why the Zhaozhou Bridge, when viewed from the side, is covered with dense 'waist iron', which, together with the 'iron ties', are the 'credit' for keeping the bridge standing for a thousand years.

The Zhaozhou Bridge was built with two small coupons on each shoulder of the large arch coupon, adding four small coupons to the bridge, saving about 180 cubic metres of stone and reducing the weight of the bridge by about 500 tonnes.

It is said that during the 1963 flood, the water flooded to the dragon's mouth of the bridge arch and according to local elders, they could feel the bridge shake greatly when they stood on it, only today it seems that the Xiao River is as calm as a pond and I am afraid that it will never flood again.

A hundred metres downstream of the Zhaozhou Bridge, a gallery bridge has been built, the main purpose of which is to be able to photograph and admire this ancient and beautiful stone bridge from the best possible angle.

At the southern end of the Zhaozhou Bridge is the Guandi Pavilion with a plaque reading 'The First Bridge Under Heaven'.

Zhaozhou Bridge is actually a very small area, apart from the stone bridge, it is a street of Zhaozhou folklore, which is made for tourism.

The tourist souvenirs, although mostly mass merchandise, are stamped with the Zhaozhou Bridge logo, which fits the mentality of Chinese tourists visiting the area.

After the Zhaozhou Bridge, you can also visit other historical sites in Zhao County, which was known as Zhaozhou in ancient times and is an ancient county with six national key cultural relics protection units in the small county. The famous Zhaozhou Dharana Sutra Building is located at the intersection of South Street and Shita Road in the county, inside the interchange.

It was originally the former site of the Kaiyuan Temple in the Tang Dynasty, and the scripture building was the building of the Kaiyuan Temple, which was later abolished while the scripture building still exists.

When you are in Zhao County, don't just know about the Zhaozhou Bridge, you must remember to take a look at this "the best in the country" scripture building, which is not only the tallest example of a dharani scripture building in China, but also has a gorgeous shape and extremely fine carving, and is a masterpiece of the perfect combination of architectural shape and stone carving art.

Zhao County is famous for its donkey meat, so don't miss out on a meal of donkey meat in time for dinner.

If you don't make it in time for dinner, there's also the old Xue family shop next to the sutra building, which specialises in Zhaozhou donkey meat, donkey intestines and Xue's fat baked cakes, all of which are local specialities.

Don't miss out on the donkey meat, most of which costs 40 to 50 yuan a catty and can be vacuum-packed. Why has donkey meat become the most famous handicraft in Zhao County? You don't have a problem with Zhang Guolao's donkey stepping on a pit on Zhaozhou Bridge, do you?

This temple was severely damaged during the Cultural Revolution, but was rebuilt in the 1980s and is well known far and wide. The temple is free of charge and closes at 4 pm, so be sure to get there early, we were, unfortunately, more than 10 minutes late.

Zhaozhou Bridge is very famous, but few people know that there is also a Yongtong Bridge in Zhao County, and there is even a park called Yongtong Bridge.

This bridge was built in 765 during the reign of the Tang Dynasty Emperor Yongtai, 170 years after the Zhaozhou Bridge, and is a carbon copy of the Zhaozhou Bridge in terms of shape and construction work, so I think it is aptly called the 'Little Zhaozhou Bridge'.

The "Little Zhaozhou Bridge" Yongtong Bridge is also a national key cultural relic protection unit, and within a few hours, we visited four national protection units in Zhao County, all of which are free except for the Zhaozhou Bridge, which charges a fee.
Zhaozhou Bridge is famous, of course, mainly due to the text in the language textbooks, so that everyone has heard of Zhaozhou Bridge. For this bridge, we should look at it objectively, Zhaozhou Bridge is one of China's four ancient bridges, the crystallisation of the wisdom of the ancient Chinese people, in the bridge-building skills do have a lot of breakthroughs and innovations, not to mention the quality, can stand 1420 years, has been fully explained. But if Zhaozhou Bridge is the "world's first bridge", the world's most powerful stone arch bridge, I'm afraid it's still a bit of a frog in the well, the human can be proven to build stone arch bridge history of more than 4,000 to 5,000 years, the ancient Roman stone arch bridge built in BC Alcantara Bridge, regardless of span, bridge height, length and other aspects of data are more than Zhaozhou Bridge, the same is The ancient Romans built in B.C. French Gale Bridge, but also boldly used a three-layer bridge design, the lower level of passage, the upper level of water, from the design concept and the degree of science is far beyond the Zhaozhou Bridge. Looking at the world, Zhaozhou Bridge is indeed a bridge development history of the world's ancient bridges, so the American Society of Civil Engineers selected as the world's twelfth "International Civil Engineering Historic Site", but we should also look at the world, not always "Lao Tzu world-first But we should also look at the world and not always think that "Lao Tzu is the best in the world" and that everything is the best in the world.
But there is no doubt that China's bridge-building technology today and to the front of the world, Dwarf Village Bridge, Beipanjiang Bridge, Hangzhou Bay Bridge, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge ...... the highest, the longest, the largest span, the most difficult ...... can be countless, think of unexpected places, almost all can build bridges to repair the road, I hope these bridges in a few hundred or even thousands of years later, can also become a historical relic of this era of construction and development, become enough to go down in history as an architectural marvel.