Construction was difficult because the river mouth was wide and the waters turbulent. Cai Xiang made numerous inspection trips to the site, consulted books and artisans on bridge construction, researched materials and mobilized social forces to take part in construction.

Building started in 1053 and was completed in 1059. The bridge was originally 1,200 meters long and five meters wide with 46 piers. The two sides were lined with 500 carved stone balusters, and there were seven pavilions and nine towers on the bridge. The two banks were planted with pines in order to secure the soil.

Luoyang Bridge features two ancient building techniques. One was pouring large amounts of pebbles into the river along the bridge's central axis to act as a foundation for the piers. The other was encouraging barnacles to adhere to and proliferate on the foundations, so consolidating them.

A year after Luoyang Bridge was completed, Cai Xiang was called back to the capital city of Bianliang (present-day Kaifeng City in Henan Province). Before he left, he wrote an inscription for the bridge, recording its date of construction, measurements, cost and the names of those that built it. He did not mention his own name. But Quanzhou people did not forget Cai Xiang, and built a temple in tribute to him. Today the Zhonghui (Loyalty and Benevolence) Memorial Temple still stands at the south end of Luoyang Bridge.

Romantic Bridges

Bridge of Magpies

The festival is based on the tale of Niulang (Cowherd), a poor orphan who lived along farming with the help of an ox, which was an exiled immortal whose punishment for violating celestial laws was to live on earth as a beast of burden.

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