Gongchen Bridge

The age old Gongchen bridge..

The midway is for bycicles and the steps on the two sides are for pedestrians.

North or South?

Photo taken at Gong-chen Bridge.

To the south, the canal stretches its way to the heart of this city, heading towards Beijing; to the north, this is where this great canal ends (in the last post).

Which side do you prefer, north or south? I love this one(south) more.

I need a few days to deal with my papers, my partner will continue blogging.

Chanin

Three Years On

This is the same bridge as the one in the last post,now three years have gone, can you recognize it?

Some modern features have been added to it, a traffic light and some luminares, while the antiqueness still well-retained as four stone sculptures of "Baxia", in Chinese myths, one of the nine sons of Dragon King, also added.(I know dragon is synonymous with demons in some cultures, but here in China, the opposite is true.)

In that myth, it is said that Baxia can keep the Grand Canal away from natural disarsters and marine accidents.

I took lots of photos but chosed this one because I love the comparison between the moving cargo ship and this static old bridge.

Gong Chen Bridge

Happy Thursday:) Take a look at this, I have to tell you this is indeed an amazing bridge.

Stretching across the Grand Canal, Gongchen Bridge has a history of 377 years, that is to say, it was first built during the reign of emperor Congzhen in the Ming Dynasty. It has gone through several wars and reconstruction, this photo was actually taken before the latest repair in August 2005, and I'll show you a photo of its current condition tomorrow or maybe next week .

As you can see, it has three bridge spans, the one in the middle is 15.8 meters in diameter while the adjacent two 11.9 meters.

1631 AC, no wonder they say that it can bring you to a period beyond living memory.