China - Wind-Rain Bridge

 

Stamp Issue : 1997-06-02 

A remarkable Wind-Rain Bridge cross a river, near the county of Liping. Wind-and-rain Bridge is a wooden covered corridor bridge, with pavilions and benches. In Dong areas there are lots of wind-and-rain bridges: over 50 just in Liping County, and more are distributed in the Sanjiang area. The most representative one is Chengyang Bridge, in Sanjiang, Guangxi Province. It was built in 1916: 76 meters long, 10.6 meters high and 3.4 meters wide; 5 piers and 4 openings; like a huge dragon across the Chengyang River; one of the four most famous bridges in China, and an important national cultural relic. Eight fir logs are laid closely on the piers in two layers, above which are five pavilions of different styles of roofs, built together to form the covered corridor bridge floor. The three pavilions in the middle are in a four-layer pagoda style, while the other two are in a five-layer long-ridge style. The five pavilions stand in a row, in a magnificent manner. On eaves of the corridor and the pavilions, lively and colorful images such as mountains, rivers, lakes, flowers, birds, beasts and fish, are painted. The interesting thing is the leverage used in the pavilion eaves, with beams sticking out widely; thus the eaves curl upwards, like a white crane spreading its wings wide, ready to fly up to the sky.