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Chinese Bridges
 Scientific design, masterly workmanship and
high-quality stone have enabled Lugou Bridge to withstand bygone summer floods
and early spring ice floes. In this respect the bridge's stone piers are unique
in being aesthetically utilitarian. They are carved to scale in the shape of
boats whose clipper-built bows cleave easily through floodwater, and whose
triangular iron rod installed on the vertical edge of the cutwater diverts ice
floes. These piers are built entirely of stone slabs joined by iron tenons thin
in the middle and thick at each end.
Artisan and Magician
Compared to Hebei's Zhaozhou Bridge, Lugou Bridge is a relatively recent
structure. Built 1,400 years ago, Zhaozhou Bridge has a mystical ethos, having
been the setting for an ancient legend, according to which the artisan magician
Lu Ban erected the bridge in one night, delighting the local people and earning
their adulation. Their ecstatic celebrations caught the attention of the two
immortals Zhang Guolao and Chai Wangye in heaven, who descended to see what it
was all about. When they saw the bridge they were as impressed as any mortal,
but decided to test it to see if it was as well-constructed as it looked. They
crossed the bridge, one riding a donkey, the other pushing a wheelbarrow. Once
on it, the two immortals used their magic powers to test the bridge's strength.
Zhang put the sun, moon and stars in the donkey's panniers and Chai loaded five
mountains on his barrow. As they approached its apex, the bridge started to
shake, but upon Lu Ban's jumping into the river and supporting the bridge, it
was still. It is said that a deep wheel track remains on the bridge surface and
that Lu Ban's palm prints can still be seen on the crown of the arch.
Though Lu Ban was a great artisan and inventor and considered the originator
of ancient artisanship, he did not actually build Zhaozhou Bridge. Its architect
and builder was Li Chun of the Sui Dynasty (581-618). Since artisans had low status in
ancient times, nothing more is known about Li Chun from historic records other
than that he was the builder of Zhaozhou Bridge. It has since served to
commemorate this ancient master artisan throughout the centuries.
Built between 595 and 605, the bridge is 50.82 meters long and 9.6 meters
wide. The main stone arch spans 37.37  meters -- the widest ever during Li Chun's lifetime. It has been
celebrated through the centuries, not only for its unprecedentedly wide arch
span, but also for the breakthroughs it represents in the history of bridge
building. Prior to Li's coming of age as engineer, bridge arches were half-moon
shaped. It was Li Chun that successfully introduced the technique of crescent
shaped bridge arches. It has since been calculated that if Zhaozhou Bridge had
been constructed with a half-moon shaped arch it would stand 20 meters high -
far too tall for practical use and maintenance. Li Chun's design enabled the
bridge to span the river at a height of just seven meters.
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