Gongchen Bridge

Gongchen bridge connects Lishui road and Taizhou road in the East, qiaonong street in the West and Xiaohe road in the West. It is the highest and longest stone arch bridge among ancient bridges in Hangzhou. The bridge is 98 meters long and 16 meters high. The middle section of the bridge deck is slightly narrow, with a width of 5.9 meters, while the two ends of the bridge are 12.2 meters wide. The three hole thin pier arched hump bridge has a clear span of 11.9 meters for the side hole, 15.8 meters for the middle hole, and a thickness of 30 cm for the arch stone. It adopts the wood pile foundation structure, and the arch stone is built in parallel by longitudinal joints.

It's a bridge with profound information. Standing on the bridge, you can feel the history rolling like the river. At the same time, it's also the starting point of the southern section of the Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Gongchen Bridge

Gongchen bridge, located in the north of Daguan bridge in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, connects Lishui road and Taizhou road in the East, qiaonong street in the West and Xiaohe road in the West. It is the highest and longest stone arch bridge in ancient Hangzhou bridges. The bridge is 98 meters long and 16 meters high. The middle section of the bridge deck is slightly narrow, with a width of 5.9 meters, while the two ends of the bridge are 12.2 meters wide. The three hole thin pier multi arch hump bridge has a clear span of 11.9 meters for the side hole, 15.8 meters for the middle hole, and 30 cm thick arch stone, which is 1 / 52.7 and 1 / 39.7 of the arch span. The middle pier is about 1 m thick, which is 1 / 15.8 of the large hole, and the eyebrow stone is 20 cm thick. The timber pile foundation structure is adopted, and the arch joints are built in parallel in longitudinal connection.

General situation

Gongchen bridge, located in the north of Daguan bridge in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, connects Lishui road and Taizhou road in the East, qiaonong street in the West and Xiaohe road in the West. It is the highest and longest stone arch bridge among ancient bridges in Hangzhou. Gongchen bridge was built in the fourth year of Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty. At that time, the whole family wished Huafeng and raised funds to build the bridge. In the eighth year of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, the bridge collapsed. In the 53rd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Duan Zhixi, the political envoy, initiated and took the lead in donating money. Monk HuiFu of Linyun Temple tried his best to raise money to help. It took four years to build the present Gongchen bridge. The bridge is 98 meters long and 16 meters high. The middle section of the bridge deck is slightly narrow, 5.9 meters wide, while the two ends of the bridge are 12.2 meters wide.

Chapter 2 of the Analects of Confucius: Confucius said, "to govern by virtue, such as Beichen, where all the stars live together." the name of Gongchen bridge (Gong and Gong, Chen and Chen) comes from this, implying that the people support the ruler who implements the rule of virtue. In 1895, after the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan, Hangzhou was listed as a trading port. Yangguan was established here in 1896. After the victory of the Anti Japanese War, Yangguan was abolished. In 2005, Gongchen bridge was overhauled, which is the first overhaul of Gongchen bridge in 120 years. In 2006, Hangzhou canal group replaced the 3-meter-long and 2-ton-heavy bridge protection stone. The ancient Gongchen bridge, with a stronger image, straddles the canal.

On the East Bank of the bridge is the canal culture square. Six reliefs on the square tell the ancient history of the canal. The grand qianyun teahouse is an antique building. When night falls, the residents in the neighborhood go out and have a rest in the square, while the fans of Yue Opera show their talents in the "folk art arena" in the square. On the west side of the bridge is gongchenqiao, a historical conservation block in the west of the bridge, which was officially renovated on February 14. It extends to the reserved warehouse of Hangzhou No.1 Cotton textile factory in the north, Dengyun road in the south, Xiaohe road in the West and Beijing Hangzhou canal in the East. The planned land area is 7.83 hectares and the building area is about 50000 square meters. The renovation project will take measures to protect, improve, straighten, update and demolish the original buildings, rescue the historical relics along the canal which are on the verge of destruction, and form a comprehensive urban area with residential and leisure functions, integrating commerce, leisure, entertainment and public exhibition services. It is expected to be completed before the national day.

On one side of qiaonong street of Gongchen bridge in the East is a modern industrial factory, on the other side is a traditional commercial shop, and a large number of residential buildings are preserved: houses and quays along the canal, courtyard style traditional residential buildings, Lane buildings in the Republic of China, simple "public houses" in the 1950s and 1960s, and "tube shaped buildings" in the 1980s, which almost concentrate the modern Chinese architecture. After the renovation, it will become a cultural complex historical district which mainly reflects the modern industrial culture, civilian living culture and storage and transportation culture formed by relying on the canal from the late Qing Dynasty to the early liberation of Hangzhou.

The center of Jishi tea club near the bridge is a charity place in the period of the Republic of China. It is the third batch of historic buildings in Hangzhou. It was built in 1924, facing north and south. It is a courtyard style wall and door building, covering an area of 560 mu, with three entrances. It is surrounded by a courtyard style courtyard. The internal buildings are all of one story wood structure.

Chen Xiangwen, a friend of the same trade, has studied the bridges and canals in Hangzhou. He once wrote the book "bridges in Hangzhou". He said that in the past, Gongchen bridge was very "lonely", with modern high-rise buildings on the east side, while some traditional buildings on the west side of the bridge were not prominent in it, and because of its dilapidation, people outside would hardly go in. On the national day, people can cross the old Gongchen bridge and come to this ancient block.

History of ancient bridge

Gongchen bridge, which spans the Grand Canal from east to west, marks the end of the Grand Canal from Beijing to Hangzhou. It was built in 1631, the fourth year of Chongzhen in Ming Dynasty, and rebuilt in 1888, the eleventh year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty. The total length of the bridge is 92 meters. The body of the bridge is built with staggered joints of strips of stone. The long lock stone runs through the bridge. The bridge deck is in a gentle arc. It is a three hole thin pier stone arch bridge, which is built longitudinally and in parallel. It is the largest stone arch bridge in Hangzhou and the landmark building in Gongchen bridge area.

According to the collection of ancient and modern books: Hangzhou bridge research and Kangxi's Hangzhou Fu Zhi, it was initiated by Xia Mujiang, a businessman in the late Ming Dynasty. The bridge was destroyed and rebuilt several times in the Qing Dynasty. In 1651, the bridge collapsed; in 1714, Duan Zhixi, the governor of Zhejiang Province, proposed the donation of the bridge, and HuiFu of Yunlin Temple tried his best to raise money to help. In the fourth year of Yongzheng (1726), Li Wei, the right deputy governor of the capital, led a donation to rebuild the bridge. He thickened the bridge by 2 feet and widened it by 2 feet. He also wrote the story of rebuilding Gongchen bridge. In the autumn of the second year of tongzhi (1863), Zuo Zongtang led the Xiang army and the "Chang Jie army" to attack the Taiping Army in Hangzhou. Because there was a Taiping Army fortress in the center of Gongchen bridge, the bridge collapsed again after the war. In 1885, it was rebuilt under the leadership of Ding Bing. After the opening of Hangzhou port in the late 19th century, the Japanese paved a 2.7-meter-wide concrete slope in the middle of the Gongchen bridge deck to connect cars and rickshaws. After liberation, the people's Government of Hangzhou banned motor vehicles.

Gongchen bridge is a national key cultural relic protection unit at present. Due to the erosion of wind and rain in recent 100 years, the masonry surface is seriously weathered, and the stone steps and stone railings on the bridge deck are also partially damaged. As the bridge is a cultural relic, the daily maintenance is only limited to cleaning up the weeds on the bridge, and the inspection is strengthened, and the diseases are reported in time. The canal section to which the bridge belongs is a V-Class channel with many passing vessels. In addition, the square hole of Gongchen bridge only allows one-way navigation. It is obvious that the main pier is collided by passing ships. On September 26, 2005, when a cargo ship was passing Gongchen bridge, it hit the arch ring of the middle tunnel, and the stone of the arch ring was damaged. On November 23, 2005, when the damaged arch ring of the bridge was not repaired, the same position was hit again.

Original name

Gongchen bridge is located in the north of Gongshu District in Hangzhou, named after the bridge. Gongchen bridge across the canal, East lianlishui Road, Taizhou road; West qiaonong street, even Xiaohe Road, is a stone structure three hole bridge. According to the staff of Hangzhou toponym office, in ancient times, "Chen" refers to the place where the emperor lived, "Gong" means Gongshou, and the two hands coincide to show respect. When the emperor visited the south, the high arched stone bridge symbolized the welcome and respect to the emperor, and the name of Gongchen bridge came from it. Now the name of Gongchen bridge has evolved into the name of directional district.

historical significance

Gongchen bridge is of great significance to Hangzhou. Once upon a time, Hangzhou people who returned to their hometown were always calm and excited when they saw the ancient bridge. This bridge marks the end of the ancient canal in Hangzhou. When a traveler who is far away from his hometown sees the familiar bridge coming, he will always feel a lot of comfort and emotion.

Today, after several repairs, the ancient bridge is still frequented by pedestrians. Walking on the high and steep bridge deck and looking at the canal, Gongchen bridge is like a holding point. It ties the whole dragon to the land of Hangzhou. Inside, it is home and root, and outside, it is a wandering world. Now Gongchen bridge has fan, knife, umbrella Museum and Canal Museum. It provides convenience for people to understand the canal culture.

Address: North of daguanqiao, Gongshu District, Hangzhou

Longitude: 120.13944389895

Latitude: 30.318192978503

Tour time: 15 minutes

Traffic information: take bus No.79, 98, 129 to gongchenqiao west station and walk about 260 meters

Ticket information: Free

Opening hours: all day

Chinese PinYin : Gong Chen Qiao