China - Wind-Rain Bridge

 

Stamp Issue : 1997-06-02 

A small Wind-rain Bridge cross a small stream in the Farmland. Wind-and-rain Bridge is a wooden covered corridor bridge, with pavilions and benches. It's a typical building in the area of Dong minority in China. People can rest on the bridge sitting or lying. Since the bridge shields people from wind, rain and sunshine, it is called the wind-and-rain Bridge, or sometimes "the flower bridge". For large-sized wind-and-rain bridges, the piers are made of big bluestone, upon which, big logs are spliced together by tenons, in a reversed pyramid, as the girder of the bridge. Upon these logs is the covering of the girder. In this way the openings have got a larger width. On the piers are pavilions, to add to the beauty of the bridge and the weight on both ends of the beams, and to increase the stability of the bridge body. Pavilions mostly have five layers of eaves, with a quadrangular or hexagonal roof, which is a spire or a long ridge; both practical and of artistic value.